CERAMIC TILE ARMOUR

Abstract: A ceramic tile armour system in which each tile (1) has one or more of its side faces (34) cut at an angle to the main faces (12) of the tile, adjacent tiles being arranged such that the angled faces thereof fit together to provide one or more overlapping joints between the tiles. Preferably the side faces are angled at between 30deg. and 60deg., preferably at 45 DEG , with respect to the main faces of each tile.

Description: Ceramic ' 1 ilc Armour The present invention relates to ceramic tile armour systems and in particular to the shaping of the tiles in such systems. By the term "tile' ' ' used herein is meant a relatively thin and substantially planar object having two principal faces lying in planes that are substantially parallel, said faces being joined together by at least three and usually four, side or peripheral faces which are small in relation to the areas of the principal faces. Such tiles will be generally rectangular in outline and may be square and the following description is directed to tiles of this shape. However it is to be appreciated that this invention is equally applicable to tiles which have more or less than four peripheral faces (ie. edges). Many modern armour systems which are designed to assist in the defeat of armour piercing (AP) ammunition, rely on the use of a plurality of separate tiles of a hard ceramic material fixed to a ductile backing material (such as an aluminium alloy) rather than using a single (or relatively few) sheets of armour material. By making the tiles relatively small in area, impact by an ΛP round leads to damage to only a single or relatively ew tiles thus enhancing the multi-hit capability of the armour protection on. say. a v ehicle or tank. However, this approach does have the disadvantage that, because the tiles tend to suffer more damage in regions towards their edges, there is a limit to how much the area of the individual tiles can be reduced without seriously compromising the overall ballistic efficiency of the tile armour litted to a v ehicle or the like. 1 raditionallv the method ol minimising this problem has been to use tiles of sufficient thickness such that even those areas of each tile which are close to its edges ha e met the desired performance level for the armour as a whole. 1 lovvever, the consequence of such over-specification is that the armour sv tem for a vehicle or the like becomes hea ier than it would he were the ballistic performance uniform over the entire area ol each tile f or many applications, particular!) in regard to armour protection lor mo ing targets, this is ver\ undesirable because weight is always a critical lactor ith such equipments. It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide a ceramic tile armour which has a greater efficiency of ballistic performance, ie. which will give* better performance overall for a given weight (or thickness) of ceramic material. Accordingly the present invention provides a ceramic tile armour configuration in which adjacent tiles in the configuration are overlapped within the thickness of the tiles, that is to say that the side or peripheral faces do not lie perpendicular to the principal faces but are angled with respect thereto and the peripheral faces of adjacent tiles are correspondingly angled so as to provide the desired overlap of the side face of one tile with the adjacent side face of the next tile in the configuration. In one arrangement one side face of a tile may be set at a particular angle with respect to one principal face of the tile and the opposing side face is set at the same angle with respect to the other principal face of the tile. By lining up such tiles end to end a linear overlapping configuration will be obtained. However, most conveniently, by chamferring two contiguous peripheral faces of each tile at an angle with respect to one of the principal faces and the other two peripheral faces at the same or a similar angle with respect to the other principal face, a complete armour configuration may be built up by placing appropriate edges of adjacent tiles in overlapping interrelationship with each other. In this way the majority of the tiles used within a particular configuration can be of the same geometry (excepting of course am tiles which lie at the edges of the configuration or in any other location where a non-angled side face is pre eπed or required such as adjacent to a discontinuity in the vehicle surface, eg. an aperture or a projection on the surlace. In such circumstances also it w ill be appreciated that it could be conv enient to use a t ile which has more or less than four peripheral sides) It w ill, however, be readih understood that other combinations of angled sides nun be adopted as is conv enient or appropi ϊate to the shape ol the structure which is to be eoverd thereby and that all such combinations are contemplated as being w ithin the scope of this invention. Whereas, in a typical armour configuration, in which the tiles are butt jointed, the ballistic performance of a tile of 8.6 mm thickness has been found to be degraded to that of a tile only 6 mm in thickness for impacts at or near to the tile edge, it has been found that, using tiles shaped in accordance with the present invention there is virtually no degradation of performance at or near the tile edges. Consequently the ballistic performance of a tile configuration using 6 mm thick tiles with all of the peripheral faces in overlapping relationship according to this invention, is almost as good as the conventional configuration in which the tiles are butt jointed and of 8.6 mm thickness. However, the former configuration weighs only some 70% of the latter, which represents an extremely advantageous result. A further advantage of the tile system according to the present invention is that b> angling the joint between the tiles w ith respect to the principal faces thereof, a greater resistance is caused to the passage of a jet of material through the joint between adjacent tiles. In conventional, butt-jointed, tile s> ste s, should the armour be struck by a soft lead lound (ball round) lor instance, the lead could be jetted through the small gap between adjacent tiles, especially in the event that the the joint is not well tolerenced. In the case of tiles of the present invention the angled joint and the fact that the path through or along the joint is also longer means that there is more resistance to penetration by jets deriving from ball rounds or the like. Pieferabh the angled edge faces of ceramic armoui tiles according to this inv ention aie set at an angle of between 30" and 60" to the principal faces of the tile, most preferablv at an angle of about 45" theieto. The invention w ill now be further described w ith lelerence to the acvompanv ing draw ing I Hgute 1 . In the di aw g a cei amic ai mour tile is shown genei alh at 1 . One ol the principal laces of the tile is show n at 2 and a first side face at i. 1 his side lace of the tile is chamlei red at an anuje of the oider of 45" with ■I respect to principal face 2 as shown and thus this side face projects beyond the upper tile surface as shown in this drawing. Λ second side face is shown at 4 and this time is undercut with respect to the principal face 2 of the tile, but again at a similar angle. Similarly those side faces which lie on opposite sides of the tile to the faces shown at 3 and 4 may be angled in a corresponding manner. It will be readily appreciated that a number of such tiles may be brought into close proximity in a manner such that there is overlap between the proximate side faces of the tiles and that in particular a single tile of the type illustrated may have four corresponding tiles placed adjacently thereto with all of the four joints between these tiles and the central tile being cooperatively angled to give overlapping joints on all sides of the central tile. In this way it will be appreciated that a large area of a structure to be protected may be covered with tiles, all the edges of which overlap with the proximate edges of other adjacent tiles. The required angling of the tile edges can be effected readily in the manufacture of the tiles by pressing or by slip casting or by machining of the fired tile. Pressing or slip casting arc to be preferred for reasons of cost.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A ceramic tile (as herein defined) for use in an armour configuration, in which at least one side face thereof is set at an angle to the principal faces thereof, said angle being substantially different to 90". 2. A ceramic tile as claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle with respect to one of the principal faces is between 30° and 60°. 3. A ceramic tile as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein one side face is set at an angle of between 30" and 60° with respect to one principal face and another side face is set at an angle of between 30° and 60° with respect to the other principal face of the tile. 4. A ceramic tile as claimed in claim 3 wherein the angled side faces are disposed on opposite sides of the tile. 5. A ceramic tile as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 which is rectangular in plan and wherein two of its side faces are set at an angle of between 30° and 60° ith respect to one principal face of the tile and the other two side faces are set at an angle of between 30° and 60" with respect to the other principal face of the tile. 6 \ ceramic tile as claimed in claim 5 wherein the side faces in each pair of such faces are contiguous one ith the other. 7. A ceiamic tile as claimed in claim 5 wherein the side faces in each pair of such laces lie on opposite sides ol the tile, 8 Λ ceiamic tile as claimed in am ol claims 1 to 4 wheiein the angle is about c ). An armtuir configuration comprising a plurality of tiles as claimed in any ot claims 1 to 8 and wherein tiles having oppositely angled side faces are so arranged that such side faces are proximate to each other so as to provide overlapping joints between adjacent tiles along those sides. 10. A ceramic tile substantially as shown in the accompanying drawing.

Inventors: JAMES BRYNLEY JONATHAN, JAMES, BRYNLEY, JONATHAN
Applicants: JAMES BRYNLEY JONATHAN, SECR DEFENCE, JAMES, BRYNLEY, JONATHAN, THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE
Application year: 2001
Main classification: F41H5
IPC codes: F41H5