| Newly developed ceramic materials have become the material of choice in many modern applications. About half a century ago, ceramics started to be included in armour systems that provide ballistic protection to personnel and equipment on the modern battlefield.;Presently, the interaction between the projectile and the ceramic is not completely understood; therefore no theory can fully describe or simulate all the complex processes taking place at the moment of impact.;Research aimed at improving the quality of armour grade ceramic relies mostly on experimental study, with depth of penetration (DOP) being one of the most common testing methods used to characterize the effectiveness of such ceramics.;In the present study, three modern ceramics, namely silicon carbide, boron carbide and CERAMORRTM with various areal densities and with or without front covering materials have been compared with the one already in use on the CC-130 Hercules aircraft. The comparison was based on the length of the penetration of an armour piercing projectile in a polycarbonate block, after impacting a ceramic tile.;Due to the continued development of various threats, particularly small arms ammunition with increased penetrating capabilities, the modern ceramic based armour must improve its stopping characteristics in order to remain efficient.;All the three modern ceramic materials outperformed the alumina, at lower areal densities compared with the alumina.;The results confirmed the need to replace the obsolete ceramic currently in use on the CC-130 Hercules aircraft. Based on this study, further ballistic testing of complete armour systems would be required to finalize the selection process. |
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