Armor plate with shock wave absorbing properties

Abstract

A composite armor plate includes a fracture layer placed adjacent to a ceramic layer. The ceramic layer provides a ballistic resistant layer that receives a ballistic impact and propagates a compression wave. The fracture layer is placed behind the ceramic layer and absorbs a portion of the compression wave propagating out in front of the ballistic impact. The absorbed compression wave causes the fracture layer to at least partially disintegrate into fine particles, which dissipates energy in the process. To cause a higher degree of fracturing (and thus larger dissipation of compression wave energy) the fracture layer includes a plurality of resonators embedded in a fracture material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.