SHOCK ABSORBER FILLER MATERIALS FOR METAL/CERAMIC/METAL COMPOSITE ARMOR

METAL CERAMIC COMPOSITES ARE CURRENTLY USED FOR ARMOR APPLICATIONS. MANY CURRENT ARMOR APPLICATIONS CONSIST OF TILES OF CERAMIC MATERIAL SUPPORTED ON A METAL OR COMPOSITE SUBSTRUCTURE. IN SOME APPLICATIONS,A METAL STRUCTURE IS ALSO USED IN FRONT OF THE CERAMIC TILE ARRAY, MAKING A CERAMIC SANDWICH. OTHER CONCEPTS UTILIZE SPHERES OR PLATELETS OF CERAMIC CONTAINED BETWEEN METAL LAYERS. IN ALL CASES, A FILLER MATERIAL IS USED BETWEEN MATERIALS IN A METAL/CERAMIC/METAL COMPOSITE. THE CHOICE OF THE FILLER IS BASED UPON ITS ABILITY TO MINIMIZE THE SHATTERING OF THE CERAMIC WHEN IMPACTED BALLISTICALLY. INNOVATIVE FILLER MATERIALS ARE SOUGHT TO IMPROVE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY. THIS PHASE I SBIR EFFORT WILL ANALYTICALLY DETERMINE THE PROPERTIES DESIRED OF FILLER MATERIALS IN METAL/CERAMIC/METAL COMPOSITE SANDWICH ARMOR, IDENTIFY THOSE MATERIALS THAT EXIST WHICH POSSESS THE DESIRED PROPERTIES, DETERMINE HOW NEW MATERIALS CAN BE FABRICATED THAT HAVE THE DESIRED PROPERTIES, AND PLAN THE PHASE II SBIR PROGRAM UNDER WHICH WE WILL FABRICATE MATERIALS AND TEST SPECIMENS AND EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFY THE PHASE I RESULTS.