Light Weight/High Performance ALON Transparency for Ballistic Protection

Polycrystalline aluminum oxynitride, ALON Optical Ceramic, has long been identified as the premier transparent armor material. However, until recently it was very expensive and available only in small pieces, and small quantities. ALON windows and domes are now available, through Surmet Corporation, in larger sizes and at lower costs than ever before. However, considerable additional cost reductions are necessary for ALON to be competitive as a transparent armor material. Lower cost Commercial Grade ALON (CG-ALON) is being compared to standard high purity ALON (HP-ALON) and strengthening coatings are being evaluated as a part of the ongoing Phase I program. The overall program goal is to lower the overall cost of ALON transparent armor. During the Phase II program we will produce large sized laminates using CG-ALON and strengthening coatings for multi-hit testing. We will also evaluate near net shape forming of large windows and develop low cost optical fabrication techniques to achieve an additional 20% cost savings. Surmet will also conduct ballistic testing on one full size aluminum oxynitride C-130 transport sized windscreen and one standard all glass armor windscreen material for quantitative comparison. At the end of Phase II, two full size ALON windscreens will be delivered.