Armada Feb Mar 2014

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decrease the weight of transparent armour. Indeed, not only does a typical window area of 3 m² on a truck weigh around 600 kg, it is also high up on a vehicle with disastrous effects on the center of gravity. With the NanoTech development experience feather in its cap IBD developed a transparent ceramic protection, the key factor being the development of special bonding processes for the assembly of ceramic tiles (“Mosaic Transparent Armour”) and the lamination of these assemblies with strong carrier layers to form large window panels. Due to the outstanding ballistic performance of the ceramic material and

ArmorLine is producing the spinel, a polycrystalline material that allows to reduce weight and thickness used in laminated transparent armour. (ArmorLine)

the elastic absorption of the remaining kinetic energy of the threats, the company managed to produce transparent armour panels with a drastically reduced weight. Compared to the 200 kg/m2 of a Stanag 4569 Level 3 standard armoured glass the new technology allows to reduce the weight of the transparent ceramic armour for the same protection to 56 kg/m² only, that is a 72% gain which, in absolute terms for the

truck windows taken as an example, would mean 170 kg. According to IBD optical performances of the new transparent ceramic protection are at least as good as those of laminated armour glass, as it is less tinted and shows a lower diffraction, and no bonding edge of the tile assembly appear. Those optical properties also apply to the infrared spectrum, meaning that night vision goggles can be used as well. A Nato country was faced with the option of reducing protection or adding a further front axle to its trucks, but the IBD solution allows either to maintain a single axle configuration and save money, or to double them and increase protection. According to

INTERNATIONAL

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