Patent ID: 7603939

Claim:
A composite armor plate comprising: a single internal layer of pellets made of ceramic material disposed in a plurality of spaced-apart rows and columns, which are bound and retained in plate form by an elastic material; a majority of said pellets having at least one convexly curved end face; an outer impact receiving major surface defined by said convexly curved end faces of said pellets for absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy from high-velocity projectiles; said convexly curved end faces of said pellets receiving impact from high-velocity projectiles and absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy therefrom; said pellets having a substantially regular polygonal outer surface with the corners of the polygon being eliminated to form rounded corners; a majority of each of said pellets being in direct contact with six adjacent pellets in the same layer to provide mutual lateral confinement there between to trap said high-velocity projectiles; a valley space being defined between three adjacent pellets, said valley space being substantially smaller than a valley space defined by three cylindrical pellets having a diameter the same as said polygonal pellets with rounded corners; and a plurality of said pellets defining an opening extending into said pellet from a surface opposite to said outer impact receiving convexly cured end face of said pellet to reduce the weight per area thereof.