Patent ID: 8074553

Claim:
An apparatus for providing protection from ballistic rounds, projectiles, fragments and explosives, comprising: a core that is shaped and configured as a structural truss of the apparatus, in which the core includes a plurality of parallel, adjacent rows and the core distributes and dissipates force impacting on the apparatus; a grinding layer comprising a plurality of ceramic grinding media and positioned on at least one side of the core facing towards potential threats, in which the grinding layer grinds rounds, projectiles, fragments or other materials impacting the apparatus, helping to dissipate the impacting material and its momentum, wherein the rows of the core include tilted surfaces that orient the ceramic grinding media at an angle away from perpendicular to a side of the apparatus facing towards potential threats and position the ceramic grinding media tightly packed, side-by-side together, and lined up in parallel rows, so that the impacting material is redirected on impact, the chances that the impacting material will strike any ceramic grinding media head-on are decreased, and the chances that the impacting material will impact with multiple ceramic grinding media are increased; and a bonding layer that bonds the ceramic grinding media together and to the core and provides an outer coating to the apparatus on a side of the apparatus facing potential threats and through which rounds, projectiles, fragments or other materials impact and penetrate the apparatus, wherein the bonding layer is substantially self-healing.