Lightweight ceramic body armour is put to the test

The plates are required by front-line troops and specialist police divisions, and are inserted into base kevlar layers with the intention of stopping high-speed rounds from armour-piercing rifles.

Dr Hywel Jones, of Sheffield Hallam University’s Materials and Engineering Research Institute, and Dr Anthony Pick, who heads a ceramic consultancy in Barnsley, have attracted £25,000 to commercialise their designs.

‘The soldier is burdened quite heavily in the field,’ said Jones. ‘Body armour itself is about 14kg just with the base and they’re always getting new kit, which actually means new weight — so if we cut down weight in other areas, then we can give them better or more kit that helps them survive and operate better in the field.’

Current armour-plate inserts are based on either alumina ceramics that typically have a density of around 3.8–3.9g/cm³ or silicon carbide ceramics that have a density of around 3.1–3.2g/cm³.