Patent ID: 6609452
Filing Date: 2003-08-26
Classification: B32B,C04B,F41H,Y10T

Abstract:
A component of a ballistic armor, said component comprising at least one ceramic layer and at least one backing layer placed behind and bonded to said ceramic layer;said backing layer comprising at least one fiber-reinforced plastic material; said ceramic layer comprising at least one ceramic composite body comprising (a) a matrix comprising silicon carbide; (b) at least one reinforcement material comprising a plurality of filler bodies dispersed throughout said matrix; and (c) no more than about 30 percent by volume of an infiltrant material comprising silicon dispersed throughout said matrix, wherein said ceramic composite body has a hardness of at least about 1100 kg/mm2 as measured with a Vickers indenter using a 1 kg load, and further wherein said ceramic composite body is characterized by a fine-grained microstructure (i) exhibiting no more than a small or slight degree of interconnectivity of the bodies making up the filler material(s), and (ii) made up of morphological features, wherein no more than about 10 percent by volume of said morphological features are larger than about 100 microns in size.