Elastomeric bilayer armor incorporating surface-hardened substrates

Abstract

An armor system is formed of a substrate including an underlying substrate layer of less hard material and including a thin layer of harder material at a first face of the substrate, and an elastomeric material layer positioned at the first face of the substrate. The increased hardness of the thin hard layer increases the penetration resistance of the armor by increasing the elastomer's contribution to penetration resistance. The properties of the substrate can be independently selected, allowing the use of substrates with lower hardness, increasing the armor's ballistic performance, and lowering the weight of the armor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.