• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.38-44
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• 2007

Combat vehicles are frequently maneuvered in battlefields when the lives of combatants are being threatened. These vehicles are important elements that influence the consequences of a battle. Their armor must be lightweight and provide excellent protection to ensure successful operations. Ceramic composite armor has recently been developed by many countries to fulfill these requirements. We reviewed previous research to determine an effective armor design, and then fabricated a composite armor structure using $Al_2O_3$ and glass fiber-reinforced polymer. Specimens were manufactured under controlled conditions using different backing plate thicknesses and bonding methods for the ceramic layer and the backing plate. The penetration of an armor-piercing bullet was evaluated from ballistic protection tests. The bonding method between the ceramic layer and the fiber-reinforced polymer influenced the ballistic protection performance. A bonding layer using rubber provided the best protection.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.7 s.172
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• pp.7-18
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• 2005

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.50-53
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• 2009

This paper mainly describes the armor materials, especially the ceramic materials for the personal protection. In the ceramic armor materials, B4C ceramics and SiC ceramics are the most popular materials. The $B_4C$ ceramics which consists of 4 atoms of boron and I atom of carbon is very light and strong. It is usually used to personal protection armor and chair protection in the helicopter. This material must be sintered at very high temperature because it melts at $2400^{\circ}C$. In order to have a good armor property, it must have very high density which is achieved by hot press or subsidiary sintering aid methods such as reducing the particle size of raw materials or mixing the sintering agents to the raw materials.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.270-277
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• 1999

The ballistic capability of an alumina-rich oxide armor ceramic against a shaped jet was characterized as a function of penetration depth in a layered target structure. The penetration resistance of the ceramic, based upon the determination of penetration velocity, was not equally realized throughout the depth of penetration. It was abnormally low at an early stage of penetration, followed by a sudden increase to reach ~16GPa thereafter. There was no apparent change in such a profile with respect to the lateral size of the specimen. Based upon 2-D flash x-ray radiography and 3-D Hull code simulation, the feasibility of forming a pressure-induced predamnaged zone in front of the jet tip was speculated to foster an increased penetration velocity in the initial stage penetration, resulting in the diminished penetration resistance. The disappearance of such a predamaged zone with penetration was interpreted to restore the resistance of the ceramic in the later penetration stage.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.487-495
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• 2012

In order to prevent the high velocity bullet from penetration, aluminum alloy and RHA(Rolled Homogeneous Armour) steel, which have a high tensile and compressive strength, are usually used as the bullet-proof armor material. Although these materials have a good bullet proof performance, but not an area density which is a weight increasing factor of bullet-proof armor. Therefore, Mg(magnesium) alloy is a promising substitute for the traditional bullet-proof armor material due to the relatively low areal density. The spatial efficiency of Mg alloy, however, is inferior to the traditional material's, which is a volume(thickness) increasing factor of bullet-proof armor. In this study, we select the multi-layered hybrid armor which consist of Ceramic, with a high strength; Mg alloy, with a low areal density; Kevlar, with a high tensile strength-to-weight ratio; in order to make up for the poor spatial efficiency of Mg alloy. By predicting V50 of the multi-layered armor against 9mm FMJ(Full Metal Jarket). we show that the multi-layered armor have the capability in improving bullet-proof performance in the respect of the areal density, but also the spatial efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2019

Nacre of abalone shell features a "brick-and-mortar" microstructure, in which micro-plates of calcium carbonate are bonded by nanometers-thick layers of chitin and proteins. Due to the microstructure and its unique toughening mechanisms, nacre possesses an excellent combination of specific strength, stiffness and toughness. This study deals with the possibility of using nacre fragments obtained from abalone shell for making a bulletproof armor system. A composite plate laminated with abalone shell fragments is made and compression and bend tests are carried out. In addition, a bulletproof test is performed with hybrid armor systems which are composed of an alumina plate, a composite plate, and aramid woven fabric to verify the ballistic performance of nacre. The compressive strength of the composite plate is around 258.3 MPa. The bend strength and modulus of the composite plate decrease according to the plate thickness and are about 149.2 MPa and 50.3 GPa, respectively, for a 4.85 mm thick plate. The hybrid armor system with a planar density of $45.2kg/m^2$, which is composed of an 8 mm thick alumina plate, a 2.4 mm thick composite plate, and 18 layers of aramid woven fabric, satisfy the NIJ Standard 0101.06 : 2008 Armor Type IV. These results show that a composite plate laminated with abalone shell fragments can be used for a bulletproof armor system as an interlayer between ceramic and fabric to decrease the armor system's weight.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.5 s.182
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• pp.170-176
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• 2006

Multi-layered laminate made of ceramic/composite have been developed to prevent penetration by high velocity impact. In this study, three-layered plates consisted of 1) cover layer (glass fiber reinforced polymer), 2) $Al_{2}O_{3}$, ceramic plate, and 3) backing plate (glass fiber reinforced polymer) were fabricated with various conditions and tested for their ballistic protection characteristic. The ceramic composite laminates, with thin backing plate, were completely penetrated by armor piercing projectile. The plate with inserted rubber between ceramic and backing plate showed excellent ballistic protection, though completely penetrated by the second shoot.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.40-47
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• 2005

In this study, we tried to invent ceramic armor material with brilliant ballistic properties by the silica of the high compression-expansion ratio and based on alumina that has the most economical and higher ballistic efficiency. After we choose three compositions, proper sintering temperature for each composition was decided. After physical/mechanical measurement, we measured ballistic properties about KE(Kinetic Energy, L/D=10.7, tungsten heavy alloy) and HEAT(High Explosive Anti-Tank, K215) projectiles. As a result, $46\%\;Al_2O_3\;-\;51\%\;SiO_2$ of three compositions had the highest ballistic efficiency md better properties than alumina.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.48-53
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• 2005

In this study, to improve the ballistic efficiency of very brilliant alumina-silica armor material, forming press and sintering temperature were changed. After physical/mechanical measurement, we measured ballistic properties about KE(Kinetic Energy, L/D=10.7, tungsten heavy alloy) and HEAT(High Explosive Anti-Tank, K215) projectiles and analyzed them. As a result, in $1235^{\circ}C$, it appeared the highest ballistic efficiency about HEAT and it improved $22\%$ ballistic efficiency, better than invented alumina-silica armor material before.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.10 s.293
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• pp.646-652
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• 2006

Several oxynitride glasses were fabricated by means of adding $Si_3N_4$ powders as nitrogen source to Ca-Al-Si-O-N (CAS) and Mg-Al-Si-O-N (MAS) glass powders, and heat-treated in graphite crucible at 1600$^{\circ}C$ for 1 h. The physical and mechanical properties as well as impact resistance were generally increased and compared with each other. The impact resistance properties of those manufactured glasses were evaluated by DOP (depth of penetration) method which is a way to analyze armor materials. There were two means to be used herein; the copper jet impacted at hyper velocity by exploding K2l5 warhead and tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) impact bar at high velocity by firing in 30 mm solid propellent gun. The impact resistance properties against copper jet were increased and then decreased with increasing nitrogen content, while those against WHA bar were not changed apparently with nitrogen content.