Development of biomorphic SiSiC- and C/SiSiC-materials for lightweight armour

Armour systems based on ceramic materials offer excellent protection against armour piercing ammunition at significantly lower areal densities compared to conventional hard armour steel or aluminium. Their main disadvantages are the high costs of the commonly used monolithic ceramic tiles and the inadequate multi-hit performance. In the work presented, the manufacturing process, the physical properties and the ballistic behaviour of newly developed biomorphic SiSiC and C/SiSiC (Carbon fibre reinforced SiSiC) ceramics, based on wood powder and activated carbon, have been studied. All samples have been manufactured via the cost effective liquid silicon infiltration process (LSI) developed by DLR. The ballistic performance was studied on sample plates 100 mm x 100 mm with armour piercing ammunition (7.62 x 51 mm AP). The novel SiSiC materials have shown good single hit properties, whereas an increased damage tolerance was obtained by C/SiSiC materials.