Low Cost Fabrication of Armor Protection Systems for Military Tactical Vehicles

"The U.S. military tactical vehicles currently use a ceramic tile based composite armor system in situations where a lightweight armor system is desired to provide protection against blast fragments and ballistic projectiles while maintaining adequate mobility and survivability. However, the current ceramic tile based composite armor system, which are generally manufactured using Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process, is expensive due to the labor intensive manufacturing processes, high tooling cost and relatively low throughput. NexGen Composites, in collaboration with Fiber-Tech Industries, Owens Corning and the University of Dayton, plans to continue the Phase I effort to develop a novel, low-cost manufacturing process for ceramic tile-based composite armor system for military tactical vehicles. Based on the preliminary projections, it is estimated that this new manufacturing process can reduce the manufacturing cycle-time by about 75% compared to the current composite armor manufacturing process and reduce costs to level which make composite-ceramic armor solutions practical and cost-effective for the US Army."