Layered Armour with Destabilising Layer for Yaw Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional armor materials, such as laminated glass and ceramics, are ineffective against heavy ammunition and have limited multi-hit capacity, often requiring thick and heavy designs to provide adequate ballistic protection, which is undesirable for mobile and transparent applications.
Innovation Solution
A layered armor system comprising a projectile-resisting layer with a higher Young's modulus and a projectile-destabilizing layer with a low stiffness, where the destabilizing layer has a Hooke number or Cauchy number greater than 1.0, positioned to absorb the initial impact and alter the projectile's yaw-angle, thereby enhancing the armor's effectiveness without increasing weight or thickness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional laminated glass or ceramic armour materials are used to provide high strength and stiffness against projectiles, then the armour can resist high velocity impact, but the armour becomes thick and heavy, reducing mobility and increasing weight
Solution Approach 1:
The armour system is divided into multiple functional layers: a frangible front layer that breaks up the projectile, a deformable intermediate layer that absorbs energy and increases yaw angle, and a resistant back layer that stops the degraded projectile. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function with optimized material properties, achieving high protection with reduced overall thickness and weight compared to conventional monolithic armour
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining materials with different mechanical properties: a frangible material (low strength) at the front, a deformable material (intermediate properties) in the middle, and a resistant material (high strength) at the back. This composite approach allows the armour to exploit the advantages of each material type while mitigating their individual disadvantages, providing high ballistic protection with reduced weight and thickness
2Illumination intensity
If the armour material is made transparent using glass and polymers, then visibility is maintained, but the armour has limited effectiveness against heavy ammunition and requires increased thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The transparent armour is segmented into multiple layers with different functions: a frangible transparent layer at the front to break up projectiles, a deformable transparent intermediate layer to absorb energy and increase yaw angle, and a resistant transparent back layer to stop the degraded projectile. This segmentation allows transparent materials to provide effective protection against heavy ammunition without requiring excessive thickness that would compromise visibility
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines transparent materials with different mechanical properties in a composite structure: frangible transparent material (glass or polymer), deformable transparent material, and resistant transparent material. This composite approach enables the armour to maintain transparency while achieving high effectiveness against heavy ammunition through the synergistic interaction of layers with optimized properties
3Reliability
If conventional armour materials are used to provide adequate ballistic protection, then protection against single hits is achieved, but multi-hit capacity is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The deformable intermediate layer acts as a cushion that absorbs impact energy and increases the yaw angle of projectiles before they reach the resistant back layer. This preliminary energy absorption and projectile destabilization occurs before the main stopping action, allowing the armour to better withstand subsequent hits by degrading each projectile's effectiveness before it reaches the critical resistant layer
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-layer segmented structure allows different layers to be optimized for different functions: the frangible front layer degrades projectiles on first contact, the deformable intermediate layer absorbs energy and increases yaw angle for enhanced protection against follow-up hits, and the resistant back layer provides the final stopping barrier. This segmentation enables the armour to maintain reliability across multiple hits by distributing the damage across layers rather than concentrating it in a single layer
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The layered system effectively increases the yaw-angle of impacting projectiles, improving multi-hit capacity and reducing the weight and thickness of armor materials, while maintaining structural integrity and resistance to erosion, making it suitable for various threat scenarios, including armor-piercing bullets.
Implementation Method 1
the projectile-destabilising layer having a Hooke number (ρ.v 2/E) of at least 1.0, wherein ρ is the density of the projectile-destabilising layer, v is the velocity of the projectile on impacting on the armour system and E is the Young's modulus of the projectile-destabilising layer
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~3C
AI summary
The invention relates to an armoured object having one or more sides that are at least partially formed of a layered armouring system comprising at least an inner layer and an outer layer (which –at least during use- is closer to a strike face than the inner layer), which inner layer is a projectile-resisting layer having an E-modulus of 1 GPa or more, and the outer layer is a projectile-destabilising layer having a lower E-modulus than the projectile-resisting layer, which projectile-destabilising layer has a Hooke number (ρ.v2 /E) of at least 1.0 at a velocity (v) of 800 m/sec.