Ceramic bodies for armor panel

A composite armor plate comprising:

• a single internal layer of pellets made of ceramic material disposed in a plurality of spaced-apart rows and columns, which are bound and retained in plate form by an elastic material;
• a majority of said pellets having at least one convexly curved end face;
• an outer impact receiving major surface defined by said convexly curved end faces of said pellets for absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy from high-velocity projectiles;
• said convexly curved end faces of said pellets receiving impact from high-velocity projectiles and absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy therefrom;
• said pellets having a substantially regular polygonal outer surface with the corners of the polygon being eliminated to form rounded corners;
• a majority of each of said pellets being in direct contact with six adjacent pellets in the same layer to provide mutual lateral confinement there between to trap said high-velocity projectiles;
• a valley space being defined between three adjacent pellets, said valley space being substantially smaller than a valley space defined by three cylindrical pellets having a diameter the same as said polygonal pellets with rounded corners;
• and
• a plurality of said pellets defining an opening extending into said pellet from a surface opposite to said outer impact receiving convexly cured end face of said pellet to reduce the weight per area thereof.