Aluminum composite armor. Combined armor What is the armor made of
- Combined armor, also composite armor, less commonly multi-layer armor is a type of armor consisting of two or more layers of metallic or non-metallic materials. "A passive defense system (design) containing at least two different materials (not counting air gaps) designed to provide balanced protection against HEAT and kinetic munitions used in the ammunition load of a single high-pressure gun."
In the post-war period, the main means of defeating heavy armored targets (main battle tank, MBT) were cumulative weapons, represented primarily by anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) that were dynamically developing in the 1950s and 1960s, the armor-piercing ability of combat units of which by the beginning 1960s exceeded 400 mm of armor steel.
The answer to parry the threat from cumulative weapons was found in the creation of multi-layer combined armor with a higher, compared to homogeneous steel armor, anti-cumulative resistance, containing materials and design solutions that together provide an increased jet-extinguishing ability of armor protection. Later, in the 1970s, armor-piercing feathered sabots of 105 and 120 mm tank guns with a heavy alloy core were adopted and widely used in the West, providing protection against which turned out to be a much more difficult task.
The development of combined armor for tanks was started almost simultaneously in the USSR and the USA in the second half of the 1950s and was used on a number of experimental US tanks of that period. However, among production tanks, combined armor was used on the Soviet T-64 main battle tank, whose production began in 1964, and was used on all subsequent main battle tanks of the USSR.
On serial tanks of other countries, combined armor of various schemes appeared in 1979-1980 on the Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks and since the 1980s has become the standard in world tank building. In the United States, combined armor for the armored hull and turret of the Abrams tank, under the general designation "Special Armor", reflecting the secrecy of the project, or "Burlington", was developed by the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) by 1977, included ceramic elements, and was designed to protect against cumulative ammunition (equivalent thickness for steel no worse than 600 ... 700 mm), and armor-piercing finned shells of the BOPS type (equivalent thickness for steel no worse than 350 ... mass in comparison with equally resistant steel armor, and on later serial modifications it was consistently increased. Due to the high cost compared to homogeneous armor and the need to use armor barriers of great thickness and mass to protect against modern cumulative ammunition, the use of combined armor is limited to main battle tanks and, less often, main or mounted additional armor for infantry fighting vehicles and other light category armored vehicles.
Related concepts
A cumulative-fragmentation projectile (KOS, sometimes also called a multifunctional projectile) is a main-purpose artillery ammunition that combines a pronounced cumulative and weaker high-explosive fragmentation action.
Armored shield - a protective device mounted on a weapon (for example, a machine gun or a gun). Used to protect the gun crew from bullets and shrapnel. Also called an armor shield is a device made from improvised materials, sometimes used in the field to protect the shooter from fire.
Multi-barreled layout - a type of layout scheme for armored vehicles, in which the main armament of an armored vehicle unit includes more than one cannon, gun or mortar, or one or more multi-barreled artillery systems (not counting additional barrel weapons, such as machine guns of various types or externally mounted recoilless rifles). Due to a number of reasons of a technical and technological nature, a multi-barrel layout is used mainly in the creation of self-propelled ...
Armored (protective) window - a translucent structure that protects people and material assets in the room from damage or penetration from the outside through the window opening.
Gusmatik, or gusmatic tire - a wheel tire filled with an elastic mass. Widely used in military equipment in the first half of the 20th century, now gummatics are practically out of use and are used to a limited extent only on some special (construction, etc.) machines.
Ship armor is a protective layer that has a sufficiently high strength and is designed to protect parts of the ship from the effects of enemy weapons.
Krupp cemented armor (K.C.A.) is a variant of the further development of Krupp armor. The manufacturing process is largely the same with slight changes in the composition of the alloy: 0.35% carbon, 3.9% nickel, 2.0% chromium, 0.35% manganese, 0.07% silicon, 0.025% phosphorus, 0.020% sulfur . K.C.A. had the hard surface of the Krupp armor through the use of carbonaceous gases, but also had a higher "fiber" elasticity in the back of the sheet. This increased elasticity...
Bottom gas generator - a device at the rear of some artillery shells that increases their range by up to 30%.
Object 172-2M "Buffalo" - Soviet experienced main battle tank. Created in the design bureau of Uralvagonzavod. Not serially produced.
The relic is a third-generation Russian modular dynamic protection complex developed by the Research Institute of Steel, which was put into service in 2006 to unify the T-72B2 Ural, T-90SM and T-80 tanks in terms of protection level. It is an evolutionary development of the Soviet complex of dynamic protection "Contact-5"; designed to modernize armored vehicles of medium and heavy weight categories (BMPT combat vehicle, T-80BV, T-72B, T-90 tanks) to provide protection against most modern Western-made OBPS...
Active protection is a type of protection for a combat vehicle (BM), used in active mode on aircraft (LA), armored vehicles, and so on.
Tank (English tank) - an armored fighting vehicle, most often on a caterpillar track, usually with cannon armament, usually in a rotating full-turn turret, designed mainly for direct fire. and after the Second World War, experiments were carried out to create tanks with rocket weapons as the main one. Variants of tanks with flamethrower weapons are known. Definitions...
Pneumatic weapon - a type of small arms in which the projectile takes off under the influence of a gas under pressure.
An armor-piercing aerial bomb (in the USSR Air Force and the USSR Navy Air Force was abbreviated BrAB or BRAB) is a class of aerial bombs designed to destroy objects with powerful armor protection (large warships, armored coastal batteries, armored structures of long-term defensive structures (armored domes, etc.). They could also hit all those targets (except for hard-surface runways), for the destruction of which concrete-piercing aerial bombs were regularly used....
Air bomb or air bomb, one of the main types of aviation weapons (ASP). It is dropped from an airplane or other aircraft, separating from the holders under the action of gravity or with a low initial speed (with forced separation).
A high-explosive fragmentation projectile (OFS) is a main-purpose artillery ammunition that combines fragmentation and high-explosive action and is designed to hit a large number of types of targets: defeating enemy manpower in open areas or in fortifications, destroying lightly armored vehicles, destroying buildings, fortifications and fortifications, making passages in minefields, etc.
Tochka (GRAU index - 9K79, under the INF Treaty - OTR-21) - Soviet tactical missile system of the divisional level (since the late 1980s transferred to the army level) developed by the Kolomna Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering under the leadership of Sergei Pavlovich Invincible.
An anti-tank guided missile (abbr. ATGM) is a type of guided missile munitions designed to fire from barreled artillery and tank weapons (guns or guns). Often identified with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), although the two terms are not synonymous.
Small-caliber high-explosive projectile - a type of ammunition filled with explosives, the damaging effect of which is achieved mainly due to the shock wave formed during the explosion. This is its fundamental difference from fragmentation ammunition, whose damaging effect on the target is associated mainly with the fragmentation field formed as a result of fragmentation of the projectile body during the detonation of an explosive charge.
Sub-caliber ammunition - ammunition, the diameter of the warhead (core) of which is less than the diameter of the barrel. Most often used to combat armored targets. The increase in armor penetration compared to conventional armor-piercing ammunition occurs due to an increase in the initial velocity of ammunition and specific pressure in the process of penetrating armor. For the manufacture of the core, materials with the highest specific gravity are used - based on tungsten, depleted uranium and others. To stabilize...
"Tiger" - Russian multi-purpose off-road vehicle, armored car, army off-road vehicle. Produced at the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant with YaMZ-5347-10 (Russia), Cummins B-205 engines. Some early models were equipped with GAZ-562 (licensed Steyr), Cummins B-180 and B-215 engines.
An anti-tank grenade is an explosive or incendiary device used by infantry to fight armored vehicles using muscle power or non-artillery devices. Anti-tank mines do not formally belong to this category of weapons, however, there were universal grenade mines and anti-aircraft mines similar in design to grenades. Anti-tank missiles may be classified as "grenades", depending on the national classification of such weapons ...
Mortar-mortar (English gun-mortar) - an artillery weapon of an intermediate type between a mortar and a type of artillery system, which is currently called a mortar - having a short barrel (with a barrel length less than 15 calibers), loaded from the muzzle or from the breech barrel and mounted on a massive plate (moreover, the recoil momentum is transmitted to the plate not directly from the barrel, but indirectly through the design of the gun carriage). This design type has become widespread during ...
Cumulative effect, Munroe effect - strengthening the effect of an explosion by concentrating it in a given direction, achieved by using a charge with a notch opposite the location of the detonator and facing the target. The cumulative recess is usually conical in shape, covered with a metal lining, the thickness of which can vary from fractions of a millimeter to several millimeters.
Armor-piercing bullet - a special type of bullet designed to hit lightly armored targets. Refers to the so-called special ammunition, created to expand the tactical capabilities of small arms.
All protective structures of body armor can be divided into five groups, depending on the materials used:
Textile (woven) armor based on aramid fibers
Today, ballistic fabrics based on aramid fibers are the basic material for civilian and military body armor. Ballistic fabrics are produced in many countries of the world and differ significantly not only in names, but also in characteristics. Abroad, these are Kevlar (USA) and Twaron (Europe), and in Russia - a number of aramid fibers, which differ markedly from American and European ones in their chemical properties.
What is aramid fiber? Aramid looks like thin yellow gossamer fibers (other colors are very rarely used). Aramid threads are woven from these fibers, and ballistic fabric is subsequently made from the threads. Aramid fiber has a very high mechanical strength.
Most experts in the field of body armor development believe that the potential of Russian aramid fibers has not yet been fully realized. For example, armor structures made from our aramid fibers are superior to foreign ones in terms of "protection characteristics / weight". And some composite structures in this indicator are no worse than structures made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). At the same time, the physical density of UHMWPE is 1.5 times less.
Ballistic fabric brands:
- Kevlar ® (DuPont, USA)
- Twaron ® (Teijin Aramid, Netherlands)
- SVM, RUSAR® (Russia)
- Heracron® (Colon, Korea)
Metal armor based on steel (titanium) and aluminum alloys
After a long break from the days of medieval armor, armor plates were made of steel and were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Light alloys began to be used later. For example, during the war in Afghanistan, body armor with elements of armor aluminum and titanium became widespread. Modern armor alloys make it possible to reduce the thickness of panels by two to three times compared to panels made of steel, and, consequently, reduce the weight of the product by two to three times.
Aluminum armor. Aluminum outperforms steel armor, providing protection against 12.7mm or 14.5mm AP bullets. In addition, aluminum is provided with a raw material base, is more technologically advanced, welds well and has a unique anti-fragmentation and anti-mine protection.
titanium alloys. The main advantage of titanium alloys is the combination of corrosion resistance and high mechanical properties. To obtain a titanium alloy with predetermined properties, it is alloyed with chromium, aluminum, molybdenum and other elements.
Ceramic armor based on composite ceramic elements
Since the beginning of the 80s, ceramic materials have been used in the production of armored clothing, surpassing metals in terms of the "degree of protection / weight" ratio. However, the use of ceramics is only possible in combination with ballistic fiber composites. At the same time, it is necessary to solve the problem of low survivability of such armored panels. Also, it is not always possible to effectively realize all the properties of ceramics, since such an armored panel requires careful handling.
In the Russian Ministry of Defense, the task of high survivability of ceramic armor panels was identified back in the 1990s. Until then, ceramic armor panels were much inferior to steel ones in this indicator. Thanks to this approach, today the Russian troops have a reliable development - the armored panels of the Granit-4 family.
The bulk of body armor abroad consists of composite armor panels, which are made from solid ceramic monoplates. The reason for this is that for a soldier during combat operations, the chance of being repeatedly hit in the area of the same armor panel is extremely small. Secondly, such products are much more technologically advanced; less labor-intensive, and hence their cost is much lower than the cost of a set of smaller tiles.
Used elements:
- Aluminum oxide (corundum);
- Boron carbide;
- Silicon carbide.
Composite armor based on high modulus polyethylene (laminated plastic)
To date, armor panels based on UHMWPE fibers (ultra-high-modulus polyethylene) are considered the most advanced type of armored clothing from class 1 to 3 (in terms of weight).
UHMWPE fibers have high strength, catching up with aramid ones. Ballistic products made of UHMWPE have positive buoyancy and do not lose their protective properties, unlike aramid fibers. However, UHMWPE is completely unsuitable for the manufacture of body armor for the army. In military conditions, there is a high probability that the bulletproof vest will come into contact with fire or hot objects. Moreover, body armor is often used as bedding. And UHMWPE, no matter what properties it has, still remains polyethylene, the maximum operating temperature of which does not exceed 90 degrees Celsius. However, UHMWPE is excellent for making police vests.
It is worth noting that a soft armor panel made of a fibrous composite is not capable of providing protection against bullets with a carbide or heat-strengthened core. The maximum that a soft fabric structure can provide is protection from pistol bullets and shrapnel. To protect against bullets from long-barreled weapons, it is necessary to use armored panels. When exposed to a bullet from a long-barreled weapon, a high concentration of energy is created in a small area, moreover, such a bullet is a sharp striking element. Soft fabrics in bags of reasonable thickness will no longer hold them. That is why it is advisable to use UHMWPE in a design with a composite base of armored panels.
The main suppliers of UHMWPE aramid fibers for ballistic products are:
- Dyneema® (DSM, Netherlands)
- Spectra® (USA)
Combined (layered) armor
Materials for body armor of the combined type are selected depending on the conditions in which the body armor will be used. NIB developers combine the materials used and use them together - thus, it was possible to significantly improve the protective properties of body armor. Textile-metal, ceramic-organoplastic and other types of combined armor are widely used today throughout the world.
The level of protection of body armor varies depending on the materials used in it. However, today not only the materials for bulletproof vests themselves play a decisive role, but also special coatings. Thanks to the advances in nanotechnology, models are already being developed whose impact resistance has been increased many times over while significantly reducing thickness and weight. This possibility arises due to the application of a special gel with nano-cleaners to the hydrophobized Kevlar, which increases the resistance of Kevlar to dynamic impact by five times. Such armor can significantly reduce the size of the body armor, while maintaining the same protection class.
Read about the classification of PPE.
Since the advent of armored vehicles, the age-old battle between projectile and armor has escalated. Some designers sought to increase the penetration ability of shells, while others increased the durability of armor. The fight continues even now. About how modern tank armor is arranged, "Popular Mechanics" was told by a professor at Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman, Director for Science of the Research Institute of Steel Valery Grigoryan
At first, the attack on the armor was carried out in the forehead: while the main type of impact was an armor-piercing projectile of kinetic action, the duel of the designers was reduced to increasing the caliber of the gun, the thickness and angles of the armor. This evolution is clearly seen in the development of tank weapons and armor in World War II. The constructive solutions of that time are quite obvious: we will make the barrier thicker; if it is tilted, the projectile will have to travel a longer distance in the thickness of the metal, and the probability of ricochet will increase. Even after the appearance of armor-piercing shells with a rigid non-destructive core in the ammunition of tank and anti-tank guns, little has changed.
Elements of dynamic protection (EDZ)
They are "sandwiches" of two metal plates and an explosive. EDZ are placed in containers, the lids of which protect them from external influences and at the same time are missile elements
Deadly Spit
However, already at the beginning of World War II, a revolution took place in the striking properties of ammunition: cumulative shells appeared. In 1941, German gunners began to use the Hohlladungsgeschoss (“projectile with a notch in the charge”), and in 1942 the 76-mm BP-350A projectile, developed after studying captured samples, was adopted by the USSR. This is how the famous Faust cartridges were arranged. A problem arose that could not be solved by traditional methods due to an unacceptable increase in the mass of the tank.
In the head part of the cumulative ammunition, a conical recess was made in the form of a funnel lined with a thin layer of metal (bell forward). The detonation of the explosive starts from the side closest to the top of the funnel. The detonation wave "collapses" the funnel to the axis of the projectile, and since the pressure of the explosion products (almost half a million atmospheres) exceeds the limit of plastic deformation of the lining, the latter begins to behave like a quasi-liquid. Such a process has nothing to do with melting, it is precisely the “cold” flow of the material. A thin (comparable to the thickness of the shell) cumulative jet is squeezed out of the collapsing funnel, which accelerates to speeds of the order of the explosive detonation velocity (and sometimes even higher), that is, about 10 km / s or more. The speed of the cumulative jet significantly exceeds the speed of sound propagation in the armor material (about 4 km/s). Therefore, the interaction of the jet and armor occurs according to the laws of hydrodynamics, that is, they behave like liquids: the jet does not burn through the armor at all (this is a widespread misconception), but penetrates into it, just like a jet of water under pressure washes sand.
Puff protection
The first defense against cumulative ammunition was the use of screens (double barrier armor). The cumulative jet is not formed instantly, for its maximum efficiency it is important to detonate the charge at the optimal distance from the armor (focal length). If a screen of additional metal sheets is placed in front of the main armor, then the explosion will occur earlier and the effectiveness of the impact will decrease. During World War II, to protect against faustpatrons, tankers attached thin metal sheets and mesh screens to their vehicles (a tale is widespread about the use of armored beds in this capacity, although in reality special meshes were used). But such a solution was not very effective - the increase in durability averaged only 9–18%.
Therefore, when developing a new generation of tanks (T-64, T-72, T-80), the designers used a different solution - multilayer armor. It consisted of two layers of steel, between which was placed a layer of low-density filler - fiberglass or ceramic. Such a "pie" gave a gain in comparison with monolithic steel armor up to 30%. However, this method was inapplicable for the tower: in these models it is cast and it is difficult to place fiberglass inside from a technological point of view. The designers of VNII-100 (now VNII Transmash) proposed to fuse ultra-porcelain balls into the turret armor, the specific jet suppression capacity of which is 2–2.5 times higher than that of armor steel. Specialists of the Research Institute of Steel chose another option: packages of high-strength hard steel were placed between the outer and inner layers of armor. They took on the blow of a weakened cumulative jet at speeds when the interaction no longer occurs according to the laws of hydrodynamics, but depending on the hardness of the material.
semi-active armor
Although it is not easy to slow down the cumulative jet, it is vulnerable in the transverse direction and can easily be destroyed even by a weak lateral impact. Therefore, the further development of the technology consisted in the fact that the combined armor of the frontal and side parts of the cast tower was formed due to an open cavity filled with a complex filler; from above the cavity was closed with welded plugs. Turrets of this design were used on later modifications of tanks - T-72B, T-80U and T-80UD. The principle of operation of the inserts was different, but used the mentioned "lateral vulnerability" of the cumulative jet. Such armor is usually referred to as "semi-active" protection systems, since they use the energy of the weapon itself.
One of the options for such systems is cellular armor, the principle of operation of which was proposed by employees of the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The armor consists of a set of cavities filled with a quasi-liquid substance (polyurethane, polyethylene). The cumulative jet, having entered such a volume bounded by metal walls, generates a shock wave in the quasi-liquid, which, reflected from the walls, returns to the jet axis and collapses the cavity, causing deceleration and destruction of the jet. This type of armor provides a gain in anti-cumulative resistance up to 30-40%.
Another option is armor with reflective sheets. This is a three-layer barrier, consisting of a plate, a gasket and a thin plate. The jet, penetrating into the slab, creates stresses, leading first to local swelling of the rear surface, and then to its destruction. In this case, significant swelling of the gasket and the thin sheet occurs. When the jet pierces the gasket and the thin plate, the latter has already begun to move away from the rear surface of the plate. Since there is a certain angle between the directions of motion of the jet and the thin plate, at some point in time the plate begins to run into the jet, destroying it. In comparison with monolithic armor of the same mass, the effect of using "reflective" sheets can reach 40%.
The next design improvement was the transition to towers with a welded base. It became clear that developments to increase the strength of rolled armor are more promising. In particular, in the 1980s, new steels of increased hardness were developed and ready for serial production: SK-2Sh, SK-3Sh. The use of towers with a rolled base made it possible to increase the protective equivalent along the base of the tower. As a result, the turret for the T-72B tank with a rolled base had an increased internal volume, the weight increase was 400 kg compared to the serial cast turret of the T-72B tank. The tower filler package was made using ceramic materials and steel of increased hardness or from a package based on steel plates with "reflective" sheets. The equivalent armor resistance became equal to 500–550 mm of homogeneous steel.
When a DZ element is pierced by a cumulative jet, the explosive in it detonates and the metal plates of the body begin to scatter. At the same time, they cross the jet trajectory at an angle, constantly substituting new sections under it. Part of the energy is spent on breaking through the plates, and the lateral momentum from the collision destabilizes the jet. DZ reduces the armor-piercing characteristics of cumulative weapons by 50–80%. At the same time, which is very important, the DZ does not detonate when fired from small arms. The use of remote sensing has become a revolution in the protection of armored vehicles. There was a real opportunity to influence the invading lethal agent as actively as before it acted on passive armor
Explosion towards
Meanwhile, technology in the field of cumulative munitions continued to improve. If during the Second World War the armor penetration of HEAT shells did not exceed 4-5 calibers, then later it increased significantly. So, with a caliber of 100–105 mm, it was already 6–7 calibers (in steel equivalent 600–700 mm), with a caliber of 120–152 mm, armor penetration was raised to 8–10 calibers (900–1200 mm of homogeneous steel). To protect against these ammunition, a qualitatively new solution was required.
Work on anti-cumulative, or "dynamic", armor based on the principle of counter-explosion has been carried out in the USSR since the 1950s. By the 1970s, its design had already been worked out at the All-Russian Research Institute of Steel, but the psychological unpreparedness of high-ranking representatives of the army and industry prevented it from being put into service. Only the successful use of similar armor by Israeli tankers on the M48 and M60 tanks during the 1982 Arab-Israeli war helped to convince them. Since the technical, design and technological solutions were fully prepared, the main tank fleet of the Soviet Union was equipped with the Kontakt-1 anti-cumulative dynamic protection (DZ) in record time - in just a year. The installation of DZ on the T-64A, T-72A, T-80B tanks, which already had sufficiently powerful armor, almost instantly depreciated the existing arsenals of anti-tank guided weapons of potential opponents.
There are tricks against scrap
A cumulative projectile is not the only means of destroying armored vehicles. Much more dangerous opponents of armor are armor-piercing sub-caliber shells (BPS). By design, such a projectile is simple - it is a long crowbar (core) made of heavy and high-strength material (usually tungsten carbide or depleted uranium) with plumage for stabilization in flight. The core diameter is much smaller than the barrel caliber - hence the name "sub-caliber". A “dart” with a mass of several kilograms flying at a speed of 1.5-1.6 km / s has such kinetic energy that, when hit, it is able to pierce more than 650 mm of homogeneous steel. Moreover, the methods of strengthening anti-cumulative protection described above have practically no effect on sub-caliber projectiles. Contrary to common sense, the slope of the armor plates not only does not cause the sabot projectile to ricochet, but even weakens the degree of protection against them! Modern "triggered" cores do not ricochet: upon contact with the armor, a mushroom-shaped head is formed at the front end of the core, which plays the role of a hinge, and the projectile turns in the direction perpendicular to the armor, shortening the path in its thickness.
The next generation of remote sensing was the "Contact-5" system. Research Institute specialists did a great job, solving many conflicting problems: the remote sensing was supposed to give a powerful lateral impulse, allowing to destabilize or destroy the BOPS core, the explosive had to reliably detonate from a low-speed (compared to a cumulative jet) BOPS core, but at the same time, detonation from hit by bullets and shell fragments was excluded. The design of the blocks helped to cope with these problems. The cover of the DZ block is made of thick (about 20 mm) high-strength armor steel. When hitting it, the BPS generates a stream of high-speed fragments, which detonate the charge. The impact on the BPS of a moving thick cover is sufficient to reduce its armor-piercing characteristics. The impact on the cumulative jet also increases compared to the thin (3 mm) plate "Contact-1". As a result, the installation of DZ "Kontakt-5" on tanks increases the anti-cumulative resistance by 1.5-1.8 times and provides an increase in the level of protection against BPS by 1.2-1.5 times. The Kontakt-5 complex is installed on Russian production tanks T-80U, T-80UD, T-72B (since 1988) and T-90.
The latest generation of Russian remote sensing is the Relikt complex, also developed by specialists from the Steel Research Institute. Improved EDS have eliminated many shortcomings, such as insufficient sensitivity when triggered by low-velocity kinetic projectiles and some types of cumulative ammunition. Increased efficiency in protection against kinetic and cumulative ammunition is achieved through the use of additional throwing plates and the inclusion of non-metallic elements in their composition. As a result, armor penetration by sub-caliber projectiles is reduced by 20-60%, and due to the increased time of exposure to the cumulative jet, it was also possible to achieve a certain effectiveness for cumulative weapons with a tandem warhead.
Very often you can hear how armor is compared in accordance with the thickness of steel plates 1000, 800mm. Or, for example, that a certain projectile can penetrate some "n" - number of mm of armor. The fact is that now these calculations are not objective. Modern armor cannot be described as equivalent to any thickness of homogeneous steel. There are currently two types of threats: projectile kinetic energy and chemical energy. A kinetic threat is understood as an armor-piercing projectile or, more simply, a blank with great kinetic energy. In this case, it is impossible to calculate the protective properties of the armor based on the thickness of the steel plate. Thus, projectiles with depleted uranium or tungsten carbide pass through steel like a knife through butter, and the thickness of any modern armor, if it were homogeneous steel, would not withstand such projectiles. There is no 300mm thick armor that is equivalent to 1200mm of steel, and therefore capable of stopping a projectile that will get stuck and stick out in the thickness of the armor plate. The success of protection against armor-piercing shells lies in the change in the vector of its impact on the surface of the armor. If you're lucky, then when you hit there will be only a small dent, and if you're not lucky, then the projectile will go through all the armor, regardless of whether it is thick or thin. Simply put, armor plates are relatively thin and hard, and the damaging effect depends largely on the nature of the interaction with the projectile. The American army uses depleted uranium to increase the hardness of armor, in other countries tungsten carbide, which is actually harder. About 80% of the ability of tank armor to stop blank projectiles falls on the first 10-20 mm of modern armor. Now consider the chemical effects of warheads. Chemical energy is represented by two types: HESH (Anti-tank armor-piercing high-explosive) and HEAT (HEAT projectile). HEAT - more common today, and has nothing to do with high temperatures. HEAT uses the principle of focusing the energy of an explosion into a very narrow jet. A jet is formed when a geometrically regular cone is surrounded by explosives from the outside. During detonation, 1/3 of the energy of the explosion is used to form a jet. It penetrates through the armor due to high pressure (not temperature). The simplest protection against this type of energy is a layer of armor set aside half a meter from the hull, which results in dissipation of the energy of the jet. This technique was used during the Second World War, when Russian soldiers lined the hull of the tank with a chain-link mesh from the beds. Now the Israelis are doing the same on the Merkava tank, they use steel balls hanging on chains to protect the stern from ATGMs and RPG grenades. For the same purposes, a large aft niche is installed on the tower, to which they are attached. Another method of protection is the use of dynamic or reactive armor. It is also possible to use combined dynamic and ceramic armor (such as Chobham). When a jet of molten metal comes into contact with reactive armor, the latter is detonated, the resulting shock wave defocuses the jet, eliminating its damaging effect. Chobham armor works in a similar way, but in this case, at the moment of the explosion, pieces of ceramic fly off, turning into a cloud of dense dust, which completely neutralizes the energy of the cumulative jet. HESH (High-Explosive Anti-tank Armor-Piercing) - the warhead works as follows: after the explosion, it flows around the armor like clay and transmits a huge momentum through the metal. Further, like billiard balls, the armor particles collide with each other and, thereby, the protective plates are destroyed. The booking material is capable of injuring the crew, scattering into small shrapnel. Protection against such armor is similar to that described above for HEAT. Summarizing the above, I would like to note that protection against the kinetic impact of a projectile comes down to a few centimeters of metallized armor, while protection against HEAT and HESH consists in creating a set aside armor, dynamic protection, as well as some materials (ceramics).
You can often hear how armor compared according to the thickness of steel plates 1000, 800mm. Or, for example, that a certain projectile can break through some "n"-number of mm armor. The fact is that now these calculations are not objective. Modern armor cannot be described as equivalent to any thickness of homogeneous steel.
There are currently two types of threats: kinetic energy projectile and chemical energy. By kinetic threat is meant armor-piercing projectile or, more simply, a blank with great kinetic energy. In this case, it is impossible to calculate the protective properties armor based on the thickness of the steel plate. So, shells with depleted uranium or tungsten carbide pass through steel like a knife through butter and the thickness of any modern armor, if it were homogeneous steel, it would not withstand the impact of such shells. There is no armor 300mm thick, which is equivalent to 1200mm steel, and therefore capable of stopping projectile, which will get stuck and stick out in the thickness armored sheet. Success protection from armor-piercing shells lies in changing the vector of its impact on the surface armor.
If you're lucky, then when you hit there will be only a small dent, and if you're not lucky, then projectile will sew all armor regardless of whether it is thick or thin. Simply put, armor plates are relatively thin and hard, and the damaging effect largely depends on the nature of the interaction with projectile. In the American army to increase hardness armor used depleted uranium, in other countries Wolfram carbide, which is actually more solid. About 80% of tank armor's ability to stop shells-blanks fall on the first 10-20 mm of modern armor.
Now consider chemical impact of warheads.
Chemical energy is represented by two types: HESH (anti-tank armor-piercing high-explosive) and HEAT ( HEAT projectile).
HEAT - more common today, and has nothing to do with high temperatures. HEAT uses the principle of focusing the energy of an explosion into a very narrow jet. A jet is formed when a geometrically regular cone is surrounded on the outside explosives. During detonation, 1/3 of the energy of the explosion is used to form a jet. Due to high pressure (not temperature), it penetrates through armor. The simplest protection against this type of energy is a layer set aside half a meter from the body. armor, thus dissipating the energy of the jet. This technique was used during the Second World War, when Russian soldiers surrounded the body tank netting from the beds. Israelis are doing the same now. tank Merkava, they are for protection ATGM feeds and RPG grenades use steel balls hanging from chains. For the same purposes, a large aft niche is installed on the tower, to which they are attached.
Other method protection is the use dynamic or reactive armor. It is also possible to use combined dynamic and ceramic armor(such as Chobham). When a jet of molten metal comes into contact with reactive armor the detonation of the latter occurs, the resulting shock wave defocuses the jet, eliminating its damaging effect. Chobham Armor works in a similar way, but in this case, at the moment of the explosion, pieces of ceramic fly off, turning into a cloud of dense dust, which completely neutralizes the energy of the cumulative jet.
HESH (anti-tank armor-piercing high-explosive) - the warhead works as follows: after the explosion, it flows around armor like clay and transmits a huge momentum through the metal. Further, like billiard balls, the particles armor collide with each other and thus the protective plates are destroyed. Material booking capable of flying into small shrapnel, injuring the crew. Protection from such armor similar to the one described above for HEAT.
Summarizing the above, I would like to note that protection from kinetic impact projectile reduced to a few centimeters of metallized armor, it depends protection from HEAT and HESH is to create a delayed armor, dynamic protection, as well as some materials (ceramics).
Common types of armor that are used in tanks:
1. Steel armor. It's cheap and easy to make. It can be a monolithic bar or soldered from several plates. armor. The elevated temperature treatment increases the elasticity of the steel and improves the reflectivity against kinetic attack. Classic tanks M48 and T55 used this armor type.
2. Perforated steel armor. This is sophisticated steel armor in which perpendicular holes are drilled. Holes are drilled at the rate of no more than 0.5 of the expected diameter. projectile. It is clear that the weight is reduced. armor by 40-50%, but the efficiency also drops by 30%. It does armor more porous, which to some extent protects against HEAT and HESH. Advanced types of this armor include solid cylindrical fillers in the holes, made, for example, of ceramics. Besides, perforated armor placed on the tank in such a way that projectile fell perpendicular to the course of the drilled cylinders. Contrary to popular belief, initially the Leopard-2 tanks did not use Chobham armor type(type of dynamic armor with ceramics), and perforated steel.
3. Ceramic layered (Chobham type). Represents a combined armor from alternating metal and ceramic layers. The type of ceramic used is usually a mystery, but usually it is alumina (aluminum salts and sapphire), boron carbide (the simplest hard ceramic), and similar materials. Sometimes synthetic fibers are used to hold metal and ceramic plates together. Lately in layered armor ceramic matrix connections are used. Ceramic layered armor protects very well from a cumulative jet (due to defocusing of a dense metal jet), but also resists kinetic effects well. The layering also makes it possible to effectively resist modern tandem projectiles. The only problem with ceramic plates is that they cannot be bent, so the layered armor built from squares.
Alloys are used in ceramic laminate to increase its density. . This is a common technology by today's standards. The main material used is tungsten alloy or, in the case of 0.75% titanium alloy with depleted uranium. The problem here is that depleted uranium is extremely poisonous when inhaled.
4. dynamic armor. This is a cheap and relatively easy way to defend against HEAT rounds. It is a high explosive, squeezed between two steel plates. When hit by a warhead, explosives detonate. The disadvantage is the uselessness in the event of a kinetic impact projectile, as well as tandem projectile. However, such armor is lightweight, modular and simple. It can be seen, in particular, on Soviet and Chinese tanks. dynamic armor usually used instead advanced layered ceramic armor.
5. Abandoned armor. One of the tricks of design thought. In this case, at a certain distance from the main armor set aside light barriers. Effective only against a cumulative jet.
6. Modern combined armor. Most of the best tanks equipped with this armor type. In fact, a combination of the above types is used here.
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Translation from English.
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