Developement of Composite Armors Using Natural Rubber Reinforced with Steel Wire Mesh for Ballistic Resistance

A protective ballistic armor used for military buildings, that will meet the anti-terrorism and force protection demands, are increasingly needed, particularly in Thailand's southernmost provinces. A new type of ballistic armor system has been developed, composing of composite layers, using natural rubber reinforced with steel wire mesh, and Al plate. The composite layers were used as front material while the Al plate was used as backing plate. The armors were tested against NIJ-Type III threats using NIJ 0108.01 ballistic test standard. The armor, with 12 mm Al backing plate, can successfully resist the NIJ-Type III treat with only combination of two composite layers. Different than hard and brittle plate, such as ceramic, the use of composite layer at the front did not blunt and erode the projectile, due to its ductile property. However, the composite layer effectively reduces the velocity of projectile, due to high fracture toughness, as a result of reinforcing steel wire mesh layers in the composites. The projectile was finally stopped by the Al backing plate. (paper)