Patent ID: 8215222

Claim:
A method of forming a ballistic armor assembly, comprising: (a) providing a ballistic armor strike plate that is a solid disk, free of holes therethrough and formed from ceramic material that is suitable for use as armor, and providing a shape memory alloy (SMA) ring, the SMA ring being formed in a solid ring having a height substantially the same as a height of the disk, the SMA ring having a bore with an inner diameter initially smaller than an outer diameter of the strike plate; (b) deforming the SMA ring to introduce plastic strain into the SMA ring and increase the inner diameter of the bore of the SMA ring to a dimension greater than the outer diameter of the strike plate; then (c) inserting the strike plate into the bore of the SMA ring to form an assembly; then (d) heating the assembly such that the bore of the SMA ring constricts around the outer diameter of the ceramic material of the strike plate to put the ceramic material into compression; and then (e) cooling the assembly to retain the ceramic material of the strike plate in compression with the SMA ring.