Patent ID: 8281700

Claim:
A composite armor plate for absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy from high-velocity projectiles, said plate comprising: a single internal layer of pellets which are bound and retained in plate form by a solidified elastic material, substantially internally within said solidified elastic material, such that the pellets are bound in a plurality of spaced-apart rows and columns, said pellets being made of ceramic material, and said pellets being substantially fully embedded in the solidified elastic material so that the pellets form an internal layer, wherein said solidified elastic material and said plate are elastic, wherein a majority of each of said pellets is in direct contact with six adjacent pellets in a same layer to provide mutual lateral confinement between the pellets, each of said pellets including: a body having a substantially regular geometric cross-sectional area; and first and second end faces, each of said first and second end faces projecting from said body and having an outwardly decreasing cross-sectional area, wherein a height of projection from the body of one of the first and second end faces disposed substantially opposite to an outer impact receiving major surface of said plate is less than 15% of a length of a diameter of the body from which it projects, and wherein the height of projection from the body of the one of the first and second end faces disposed substantially opposite to the outer impact receiving major surface is less than a height of projection from the body of the other of the first and second end faces that comprises an impact receiving end face of said pellet.