National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
×

Opportunities in Protection Materials Science
and Technology for Future Army Applications

Committee on Opportunities in Protection Materials Science
and Technology for Future Army Applications

National Materials Advisory Board
and
Board on Army Science and Technology

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
            OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES









THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS     500 Fifth Street, N.W.     Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Contract No. W911NF-09-C-0164 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Defense. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-21285-4
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-21285-5

This report is available in limited quantities from

National Materials and Manufacturing Board
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nmab@nas.edu
http://www.nationalacademies.edu/nmab

Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet: http://www.nap.edu.

Cover: A soldier wearing protective equipment (left); up-armored high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) (center); drawing showing penetration of target (right, upper) and interface defeat—the goal of protective material (right, lower). The lower border serves as a reminder of the continued increase in threat that drives the need for advances in protective materials.

Copyright 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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COMMITTEE ON OPPORTUNITIES IN PROTECTION MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR FUTURE ARMY APPLICATIONS

EDWIN L. THOMAS, Chair, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MICHAEL F. McGRATH, Vice Chair, Analytic Services Inc. (ANSER)

RELVA C. BUCHANAN, University of Cincinnati

BHANUMATHI CHELLURI, IAP Research, Inc.

RICHARD A. HABER, Rutgers University

JOHN WOODSIDE HUTCHINSON, Harvard University

GORDON R. JOHNSON, Southwest Research Institute

SATISH KUMAR, Georgia Institute of Technology

ROBERT M. McMEEKING, University of California, Santa Barbara

NINA A. ORLOVSKAYA, University of Central Florida

MICHAEL ORTIZ, California Institute of Technology

RAÚL A. RADOVITZKY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

KALIAT T. RAMESH, Johns Hopkins University

DONALD A. SHOCKEY, SRI International

SAMUEL ROBERT SKAGGS, Los Alamos National Laboratory (retired), Consultant

STEVEN G. WAX, Defense Applied Research Projects Agency (retired), Consultant

Staff

ERIK SVEDBERG, NMAB Senior Program Officer

ROBERT LOVE, BAST Senior Program Officer

NANCY T. SCHULTE, BAST Senior Program Officer

HARRISON T. PANNELLA, BAST Senior Program Officer

JAMES C. MYSKA, BAST Senior Research Associate

NIA D. JOHNSON, BAST Senior Research Associate

LAURA TOTH, NMAB Senior Program Assistant

RICKY D. WASHINGTON, NMAB Administrative Coordinator

ANN F. LARROW, BAST Research Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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NATIONAL MATERIALS ADVISORY BOARD

ROBERT H. LATIFF, Chair, R. Latiff Associates

LYLE H. SCHWARTZ, Vice Chair, University of Maryland

PETER R. BRIDENBAUGH, Alcoa, Inc. (retired)

L. CATHERINE BRINSON, Northwestern University

VALERIE BROWNING, ValTech Solutions, LLC

YET MING CHIANG, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

GEORGE T. GRAY III, Los Alamos National Laboratory

SOSSINA M. HAILE, California Institute of Technology

CAROL A. HANDWERKER, Purdue University

ELIZABETH HOLM, Sandia National Laboratories

DAVID W. JOHNSON, JR., Stevens Institute of Technology

TOM KING, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

KENNETH H. SANDHAGE, Georgia Institute of Technology

ROBERT E. SCHAFRIK, GE Aircraft Engines

STEVEN G. WAX, Strategic Analysis, Inc.

Staff

DENNIS CHAMOT, Acting Director

ERIK SVEDBERG, Senior Program Officer

RICKY D. WASHINGTON, Administrative Coordinator

HEATHER LOZOWSKI, Financial Associate

LAURA TOTH, Senior Program Assistant

__________

NOTE: In January 2011 the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) and the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design combined to form the National Materials and Manufacturing Board. Listed here are the members of the NMAB who were involved in this study.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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BOARD ON ARMY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ALAN H. EPSTEIN, Chair, Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Connecticut

DAVID M. MADDOX, Vice Chair, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia

DUANE ADAMS, Carnegie Mellon University (retired), Arlington, Virginia

ILESANMI ADESIDA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

RAJ AGGARWAL, University of Iowa, Coralville

EDWARD C. BRADY, Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida

L. REGINALD BROTHERS, BAE Systems, Arlington, Virginia

JAMES CARAFANO, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.

W. PETER CHERRY, Independent Consultant, Ann Arbor, Michigan

EARL H. DOWELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

RONALD P. FUCHS, Independent Consultant, Seattle, Washington

W. HARVEY GRAY, Independent Consultant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

CARL GUERRERI, Electronic Warfare Associates, Inc., Herndon, Virginia

JOHN J. HAMMOND, Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired), Fairfax, Virginia

RANDALL W. HILL, JR., University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Marina del Rey

MARY JANE IRWIN, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

ROBIN L. KEESEE, Independent Consultant, Fairfax, Virginia

ELLIOT D. KIEFF, Channing Laboratory, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

LARRY LEHOWICZ, Quantum Research International, Arlington, Virginia

WILLIAM L. MELVIN, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Smyrna

ROBIN MURPHY, Texas A&M University, College Station

SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas

RICHARD R. PAUL, Independent Consultant, Bellevue, Washington

JEAN D. REED, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia

LEON E. SALOMON, Independent Consultant, Gulfport, Florida

JONATHAN M. SMITH, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

MARK J.T. SMITH, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

MICHAEL A. STROSCIO, University of Illinois, Chicago

JOSEPH YAKOVAC, President, JVM LLC, Hampton, Virginia

Staff

BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director

CHRIS JONES, Financial Manager

DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Preface

Armor materials are remarkable: Able to stop multiple hits and save lives, they are essential to our military capability in the current conflicts. But as threats have increased, armor systems have become heavier, creating a huge burden for the warfighter and even for combat vehicles. This study of lightweight protection materials is the product of a committee created jointly by two boards of the National Research Council, the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB)1 and the Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST), in response to a joint request from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology and the Army Research Laboratory. The committee examined the fundamental nature of material deformation behavior at the very high rates characteristic of ballistic and blast events. Our goal was to uncover opportunities for development of advanced materials that are custom designed for use in armor systems, which in turn are designed to make optimal use of the new materials. Such advances could shorten the time for material development and qualification, greatly speed engineering implementation, drive down the areal density of armor, and thereby offer significant advantages for the U.S. military. We hope this report will have a revolutionary effect on the materials and armor systems of the future—an effect that will meet mission needs and save even more lives.

Coincidentally, six weeks after the final committee meeting, the Army announced a draft program calling for establishment of a collaborative research alliance for materials in extreme dynamic environments.2 Since the committee did not review the Army’s preliminary request for proposal, it is not discussed in the study.

The committee was composed of a wide range of experts whose backgrounds in processing and characterization of ceramics, metals, polymers, and composites, as well as theory and modeling and high-rate testing of protection materials, combined wonderfully to make this report possible. I want to thank each and every one of the committee members for their hard work, camaraderie, and dedicated efforts over the past year and in particular, Mike McGrath, the vice chair, and chapter leads Richard Haber, John Hutchinson, Nina Orlovskaya, Don Shockey, Bob Skaggs, Raúl Radovitzky, and Steve Wax. Staff of the NMAB and the BAST did a great job supporting the study and in bringing the report to fruition.

Edwin L. Thomas, NAE, Chair
Committee on Opportunities in
Protection Materials
Science and Technology for
Future Army Applications

__________

1In January 2011 the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) and the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design combined to form the National Materials and Manufacturing Board. The move underscored the importance of materials science to innovations in engineering and manufacturing.

2U.S. Army. 2010. A Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) for Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE), Solicitation Number W911NF-11-R-0001, October 28. Available online at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=48a13a80653b1fabe3f83ede9ddc641b&tab=core&tabmode=list&=. Last accessed March 31, 2011.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Charles E. Anderson, Jr., Southwest Research Institute,

Diran Apelian, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,

Morris E. Fine, Technological Institute Professor

Emeritus, Northwestern University

Peter F. Green, University of Michigan,

Julia R. Greer, California Institute of Technology,

Wayne E. Marsh, DuPont Central Research and Development,

R. Byron Pipes, Purdue University,

Bhakta B. Rath, Naval Research Laboratory,

Susan Sinnott, University of Florida, and

Edgar Arlin Starke, Jr., University of Virginia

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Elisabeth M. Drake, NAE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory of Energy and the Environment. Appointed by the National Research Council, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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4     INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL METHODS FOR THE DESIGN OF PROTECTION MATERIAL AND PROTECTION SYSTEMS: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

Three Examples of Current Capabilities for Modeling and Testing

Projectile Penetration of High-Strength Aluminum Plates

Projectile Penetration of Bilayer Ceramic-Metal Plates

All-Steel Sandwich Plates for Enhanced Blast Protection: Design, Simulation, and Testing

The State of the Art in Experimental Methods

Definition of the Length Scales and Timescales of Interest

Evaluating Material Behavior at High Strain Rates

Investigating Shock Physics

Investigating Dynamic Failure Processes

Investigating Impact Phenomenology

Modeling and Simulation Tools

Background and State of the Art

New Protection Materials and Material Systems: Opportunities and Challenges

Computational Materials Methods

Overall Recommendations

5     LIGHTWEIGHT PROTECTIVE MATERIALS: CERAMICS, POLYMERS, AND METALS

Overview and Introduction

Ceramic Armor Materials

Crystalline Ceramics: Phase Behavior, Grain Size or Morphology, and Grain Boundary Phases

Crystalline Structure of Silicon Carbide

Availability of Ceramic Powders

Processing and Fabrication Techniques for Armor Ceramics

“Green” Compaction

Sintering

Transparent Armor

Transparent Crystalline Ceramics

Fibers

Effect of Fiber Diameter on Strength in High-Performance Fibers

Relating Tensile Properties to Ballistic Performance

Approaching the Theoretical Tensile Strength and Theoretical Tensile Modulus

The Need for Mechanical Tests at High Strain Rates

Ballistic Fabrics

Ballistic Testing and Experimental Work on Fabrics

Failure Mechanisms of Fabrics

Important Issues for Ballistic Performance of Fabrics

Metals and Metal-Matrix Composites

Desirable Attributes of Metals as Protective Materials

Nonferrous Metal Alternatives

Adhesives for Armor and for Transparent Armor

General Considerations for the Selection of an Adhesive Interlayer

Important Issues Surrounding Adhesives for Lightweight Armor Applications

Types of Adhesive Interlayers

Testing, Simulation, and Modeling of Adhesives

Joining

Other Issues in Lightweight Materials

Nondestructive Evaluation Techniques

Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

Overall Findings

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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3-1 Impact on steel plate
3-2 Polished and etched cross section through the crater in a steel plate that was impacted at 6 km/s by a 12.7-mm-diameter polycarbonate sphere
3-3 Polished cross sections through the shot line of a SiC and a TiB2 target, showing typical microdamage immediately below the impact site after a no-penetration experiment with a long rod tungsten projectile
3-4 Damage mechanisms observed in several ceramics
3-5 A 200 × 200 × 75 mm3 monolithic soda lime glass target (confined on all sides with polymethyl methacrylate plates) partially penetrated by a 31.75 × 6.35-mm-diameter heminosed steel rod impacting at 300 m/s and a surface of section through the shot line showing damage around the projectile cavity
3-6 Three material processing zones and three stress states experienced by a material element in the path of an advancing penetrator
3-7 Post-test observation of fabric damage from a platelike projectile showing yarn breakage characteristics; projectile size is shown with the fabric flap in its original position
3-8 SEM micrograph revealing fibrillar microstructure in an as-spun PBZT fiber
3-9 SEM side views and end-on views of matching fracture ends of a tensile-fractured PBZT fiber
3-10 Sequence of computerized axial tomography scan images showing macro deformation bands in quasi-static compression-loaded ductile aluminum foam
3-11 Sequential mechanisms responsible for cell collapse in ductile aluminum foam under quasi-static load
3-12 Stress-strain curve for a brittle aluminum foam subjected to quasi-static compression; bands of fractured cells after imposed quasi-static engineering compressive strains of 0, 5.6 percent, 11.7 percent, 33.3 percent, and 60 percent, respectively
3-13 SEM images of failed cells in brittle aluminum foam showing failure modes under compression, tension and shear, face cracking, and friction and shear between fractured cells
 
4-1 Blunt-nosed and ogive-nosed projectiles exiting a 20-mm-thick aluminum plate
4-2 Experimental results for final exit (residual) velocity as a function of initial velocity for blunt-nosed and ogive-nosed projectiles
4-3 Numerical finite-element simulations of the ballistic behavior shown in Figure 4.2 depicting effects of mesh refinement and the contrast between three-dimensional and two-dimensional (axisymmetric) meshing
4-4 Simulations of penetration of a plate of AA7057-T651 showing finite-element mesh for a blunt-nosed and an ogive-nosed hard steel projectile
4-5 Ceramic strength versus applied pressure for the JHB constitutive model
4-6 Schematic depicting the response of a clamped sandwich plate to blast loading
4-7 Half-sectional square honeycomb core test panels
4-8 Comparison of experimental test specimens deformed at the three levels of air blast, with simulations carried out for the same plates and level of blasts
4-9 Length scales and timescales associated with typical threats to Army fielded materials and structures
4-10 Experimental techniques used for the development of controlled high-strain-rate deformations in materials
4-11 High-strain-rate behavior of 6061-T6 aluminum determined through servohydraulic testing, compression and torsional Kolsky bars, and high-strain-rate, pressure-shear plate impact
4-12 Schematic of the high-strain-rate, pressure-shear plate impact experiment
4-13 Photographs taken by a high-speed camera (interframe times of 1 μs and exposure times of 100 ns) of the dynamic failure process in uncoated transparent AlON
Page xvii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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4-14 Line VISAR figure showing spallation in polycrystalline tantalum
4-15 Optimal transportation mesh-free simulation of a steel plate perforated by a steel projectile striking at various angles
4-16 Example of a Lagrangian finite-element simulation that uses adaptive re-meshing and refinement to eliminate element distortion and to optimize the mesh
4-17 A comparison of results from five computational approaches for a tungsten projectile impacting a steel target at 1,615 m/s
4-18 Prediction of conical, radial, and lateral crack patterns in ceramic plate impact by the recent cohesive zone/discontinuous Galerkin method
4-19 Multiscale hierarchy for metal plasticity
4-20 V&V process
4-21 Growth in supercomputer powers as a function of year
 
5-1 Schematic presentation of the cross section of an armor tile typically used for armored vehicles showing the complexity of the armor architecture
5-2 Rhombohedral unit cell structure of B4C showing B11C icosahedra and the diagonal chain of C-B-C atoms
5-3 The boron-carbon phase diagram over the range 0-36 at % carbon
5-4 A boron carbide ballistic target that comminuted during impact and a high-resolution TEM image of a fragment produced by a ballistic test at impact pressure of 23.3 GPa
5-5 Schematics of the stacking sequence of layers of Si–C tetrahedra in various SiC polytypes
5-6 Scanning TEM micrograph of the microstructure of spinel glass ceramic
5-7 Photo showing the transparency and multi-hit performance of spinel
5-8 Strength and stiffness of the strongest fiber sample and of fibers typical of the high-strength and low-strength peaks in the 1-mm gauge length distribution versus the properties of other commercially available, high-performance fibers
5-9 Schematic of transverse sections of fibers
5-10 Stress-strain curve for RHA steel deformed in compression at a high strain rate
5-11 Composite stack of transparent layers: a ceramic strike face, adhesive interlayers, glass, polyurethane, and polycarbonate
 
6-1 Current paradigm for armor design
6-2 New paradigm for armor development
6-3 PMD initiative organizational structure involving academic researchers, government laboratories, and industry
 
E-1 Silicon carbide sample microstructures showing grains in hot-pressing, dynamic magnetic compaction followed by pressureless sintering, and uniaxial pressing followed by pressureless sintering
 
H-1 Specific stiffness versus specific strength of various materials, including metals and ceramics
H-2 High-strain-rate compressive response of a trimodal aluminum alloy, in comparison with that of rolled homogeneous armor at similar strain rates (103 s–1)
H-3 Optical micrograph of Al-SiC cermet
 
J-1 Cone formation during ballistic impact on the back face of the composite target
J-2 Schematic shape of delaminated regions observed in impact experiments
J-3 Schematic showing plug formation
 
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Acronyms and Abbreviations

AlON aluminum oxynitride
ARL Army Research Laboratory
ARO Army Research Office
ATC Aberdeen Test Center (Maryland)
ATH aluminum trihydroxide
ATPD Army Tank Purchase Description
 
BAST Board on Army Science and Technology
 
CIP cold isostatic pressing
CNT carbon nanotubes
CTE coefficient of thermal expansion
CZM cohesive zone models
 
DARPA Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency
DMC dynamic magnetic compaction
DoD Department of Defense
DoE Department of Energy
 
ERDC Engineer Research and Development Cente (U.S. Army)
ESAPI enhanced small arms protective insert
 
FGAC functionally graded armor composites
FGM functionally gradient material
FSP fragment simulating projectiles
 
GHz gigahertz
GPa gigapascals
 
HEL Hugoniot elastic limit
HMMWV high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (Humvee)
HP hot pressing
 
IBA Interceptor body armor
ICME Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (an NRC report)
ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations
 
JHB Johnson, Holmquist, and Beissel
 
M&S modeling and simulation
MMC metal matrix composites
MPa megapascal
MZ Mescall zone
 
NDE nondestructive evaluation
NIJ National Institute of Justice
NMAB National Materials Advisory Board
NRC National Research Council
NSF National Science Foundation
NVI normal velocity interferometer
 
OHPC Omnipresent High-Performance Computing program
 
PAN polyacrylonitrile
PBO polybenzoxazole
PBZT poly(benzobisthiazole)
PC polycarbonate
PE polyethylene
PMC polymer matrix composite
PMD protection materials-by-design
PMMA polymethyl methacrylate
PPTA polyparaphenylene terephthalamide
PU polyurethane
PVB polyvinyl butyral
 
QMU quantification of margins and uncertainties
 
RHA rolled homogeneous armor
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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SAN poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)
SAPI small arms protective insert
SCS shear compression (test)
SEM scanning electron microscope
SiC silicon carbide
SiSiC siliconized silicon carbide
SPS spark plasma sintering
 
TDI transverse displacement interferometer
TEM transmission electron microscopy
TPU thermoplastic polyurethanes
 
UHMWPE ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
UQ uncertainty quantification
UV ultraviolet
 
VISAR velocity interferometry system for any reflector
V&V verification and validation
 
XCT x-ray computed tomography
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13157.
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Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications Get This Book
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Armor plays a significant role in the protection of warriors. During the course of history, the introduction of new materials and improvements in the materials already used to construct armor has led to better protection and a reduction in the weight of the armor. But even with such advances in materials, the weight of the armor required to manage threats of ever-increasing destructive capability presents a huge challenge.

Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications explores the current theoretical and experimental understanding of the key issues surrounding protection materials, identifies the major challenges and technical gaps for developing the future generation of lightweight protection materials, and recommends a path forward for their development. It examines multiscale shockwave energy transfer mechanisms and experimental approaches for their characterization over short timescales, as well as multiscale modeling techniques to predict mechanisms for dissipating energy. The report also considers exemplary threats and design philosophy for the three key applications of armor systems: (1) personnel protection, including body armor and helmets, (2) vehicle armor, and (3) transparent armor.

Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications recommends that the Department of Defense (DoD) establish a defense initiative for protection materials by design (PMD), with associated funding lines for basic and applied research. The PMD initiative should include a combination of computational, experimental, and materials testing, characterization, and processing research conducted by government, industry, and academia.

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