Claims
- 1. An armor component, comprising:
a tile having a perimeter; and a wrapping material wrapped around the perimeter of the tile.
- 2. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the wrapping material comprises one of high strength graphite fiber, glass fiber, aramid fiber, PBO fiber, and liquid crystal fiber.
- 3. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the tile comprises a ceramic material selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, boron carbide, titanium diboride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride and tungsten carbide.
- 4. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the tile is circular.
- 5. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the tile is polygonal.
- 6. The armor component of claim 5 wherein vertices of the polygonal tile are smoothed.
- 7. The armor component of claim 6 wherein the vertices are smoothed to a radius of about 0.125 inches.
- 8. The armor component of claim 1 wherein a thickness of the wrapping material is about 0.030 inches.
- 9. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the perimeter of the tile includes a recess and at least a portion of the wrapping material is disposed in the recess.
- 10. The armor component of claim 9 wherein a depth of the recess is about 0.030 inches.
- 11. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the wrapping material comprises one of a high strength fiber, a high strength fiber in a polymer composite matrix, a high strength fiber in a metallic matrix, a high-strength metallic band, and a high-strength metallic wire.
- 12. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the tile comprises a material having a Vickers hardness of about 12 GPa or greater and a compressive strength of about 2 GPa or greater.
- 13. The armor component of claim 1 wherein the wrapping material precompresses the tile.
- 14. An armor system, comprising:
a back plate; at least one tile array layer disposed on the back plate, the at least one tile array layer comprising a plurality of armor components wherein each armor component comprises a tile having a perimeter wrapped with a wrapping material; and a top layer disposed on the at least one tile array layer.
- 15. The armor system of claim 14 further comprising a shock absorbing layer disposed between the back plate and the at least one tile array layer.
- 16. The armor system of claim 14 wherein the wrapping material for each tile precompresses each tile.
- 17. The armor system of claim 14 wherein the plurality of armor components are placed adjacent each other such that the wrapping material of one armor component contacts the wrapping material of an adjacent armor component.
- 18. The armor system of claim 14 further comprising spacers placed between the plurality of armor components to create air gaps between adjacent armor components.
- 19. The armor system of claim 14 wherein the perimeter of each tile includes a recess and at least a portion of the wrapping material is disposed in the recess.
- 20. The armor system of claim 14 wherein the tiles are polygonal and wherein vertices of the polygonal tiles are smoothed.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST
[0001] The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for government purposes without the payment of any royalties therefor.