Article of same
Korean military blogger generally about development history and the latest tank amour package design nationally and internationally. Machine translated via Google ("Glove"=Armor):
What is the 4th generation composite armor?
It is a Polish Leopard-2PL tank heavily armed with German IBD's 4th generation composite armor kit in response to the T14 Armata.
In the Military Review Easy 2004 article, it was mentioned that the 4th generation composite armor was adopted for the M1A2C tank, which the United States began modifying and producing in 2019 .
Here , the 4th generation composite armor refers to the 1st generation ceramic composite armor developed by the UK First Research Institute in the 1970s, the 2nd generation depleted uranium armor introduced by the US to the M1 tank, and the 2nd generation of depleted uranium armor introduced by the UK to the Challenger-2 tank in the early 2000s. This is a classification according to the 3rd generation of composite gloves. Since depleted uranium is not used in Europe and Korea, the composite armor used in the Challenger-2 tank is sometimes classified as the second generation.
As the
Metal Composite Material (MMC) and slope function materials used in the 4th generation class were analyzed in detail through the Military Review Easy 2004, the existing composite armor technologies used prior to that will be summarized.
The appearance of the 1st generation composite armor!
The first to test composite armor on a tank was the United States. During World War II, the United States developed a powerful shaped charge weapon , represented by the bazooka , and used it very well against German and Japanese tanks. And it came as a shock when post-war evaluations revealed that the weapon that destroyed the most tanks was the Panzerfaust operated by infantry or something.
German Panzerfaust. It was the weapon that destroyed the most tanks during World War II.
The U.S. Army began research on strengthening defense power in response to the shaped charge ammunition of the tank, and found that silica ceramics, which were already used for ceramics and tiles, were very strong against the shaped charge ammunition. In fact, the crucibles that are resistant to high heat used when melting metal or glass are ceramic materials, so I didn't have to worry too much. Soon after, the US Army tested blocks of silica (glass) ceramics on the surface of the M48 tank
in the mid-1950s.
However, the silica block was too heavy and easily damaged due to the movement and vibration of the tank, so it was never put to practical use. Compared t othis, the former Soviet Union (Russia) had a painful experience of losing close to 10,000 armored vehicles to the Panzerfaust of the German Army in the latter half of World War II , so it is more preoccupied with solving this problem than anyone else.
This is the world's first Soviet T64 tank with composite armor applied.
Combination-K laminated composite glove appeared
As a result, starting from the mid-1950s, research on how to combine various different materials (異種材料) was started, and from Obiekt430, which later became the T-64 tank, Combination-K, a first-generation laminated composite armor, was installed. Here, in Combination-K, glass-based silica ceramics are cast inside the casting material turret, which first meets the hardness conditions by putting in plenty of expensive nickel, ignoring the manufacturing cost, and then filling the module made of glass fiber composites. Manufactured the way it is.
◆ Russian composite armor technology
Here, the ceramic has high hardness, so it gave a strong impact to the kinetic energy type penetrator such as the APFSDS bullet, making thefront part of the penetrator blunt. At the same time, ceramics have a low rate of decay inherent in the material, so they continuously saturate the penetration of the metal jet of the high-explosive shell and eventually have the effect of lowering the penetration.
The layer made of glass fiber composite played a role in forming a large yaw (shaking)
momentarily to the penetrator by applying a sudden and rapid change in density and hardness when the APFSDS bullet penetrated .
In addition, it also had the effect of inert reactive armor thatexpands by absorbing the metal jet energy of the shaped charges. Compared to standard rolled homogeneous armor (RHA), which is widely used as an armor material for tanks, Combination-K has approximately 1.2 times more defense against APFSDS bullets and 1.6 times more protection against shaped charges compared to its weight . And since steel, ceramic, and fiberglass composites are layered
one after the other, it is called <laminated composite armor>.
This is a scene of testing the British first ceramic composite glove. Remember the screw holes in the steel sheet.
Counterattack of the West, the appearance of Chobham layered composite armor
The fact that laminated composite armor was used in T64 tanks deployed from 1968 became widely known in the West through intelligence, and many countries in the West were already developing new armor systems. In order to solve the problem that UH-1 transport helicopters were easily shot down by enemy small arms fire during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the United States has already been using AlO3 ceramic plates with excellent hardness and bulletproof panels composed of Kevlar composites for cockpit chairs and defense panels since the 70s. started using.
◆ Development of layered composite gloves in the UK
Among the many research institutes in the West, the one that has shown the greatest achievements is the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE), located in Chobham, England. Layered composite gloves will be unveiled for the first time.
The UK also took the same approach as Russia (the former Soviet Union), namely using heterogeneous materials with ceramics that are resistant to high heat and pressure. However, in terms of materials, a new ceramic material, AlO3 (aluminum oxide) , was used, and a
new armor array structure was applied through numerous tests.
The technological innovations of the UK, primarily, were that ceramics were resistant to heat and pressure and had high hardness, so they had high defense against both shaped charge and kinetic energy bullets. However, on the contrary, brittleness (breakability) is also high, so when a part is exposed to impact, the problem of crack propagation to the entire ceramic module is solved.
This is a ceramic plate applied to a ceramic bulletproof panel.
The hexagonal structure, which is most resistant to impact, is mainly used.
◆ What is layered composite glove technology?
The UK first found the thickness and area where ceramics can exert the highest efficiency, not ingot-shaped ceramic lumps like Russia. As aresult, it was found that an aggregate of many thin hexagonal ceramic panels with a diameter of 15 cm or less was the best in terms of defense efficiency, rather than a single thick ceramic module. However, when ceramic panels are stacked on top of each other, the problem of spreading cracks on the back and rear ceramic panels dueto the propagation of fragments and shockwaves when the ceramics break was still a problem.
In response to these problems, the UK absorbed the shock by inserting plastic resin to act as a buffer and hold the fragments between the ceramic panels so that they can absorb the shock when the ceramic is broken.
At the same time, thin ultra-high-hardness steel plates are inserted between ceramic panels as a structural material that can fix ceramics in order to achieve a penetrating effect through materials of different hardness, along with a protective role to prevent damage to the ceramic panel from being transmitted to the rear.
This is a structure diagram of ceramic layered composite gloves.
It is a form of fixing a ceramic plate with screws between ultra-high-hardness steel plates.
Looking at the structure of the actual composite glove, as shown above, there is a screw protrusion that can fix the ceramic to the high-hardness steel plate, and the ceramic plate with a hole is inserted into the screw protrusion to combine it primarily.
Then, it is covered with a plastic bond or the like to secure the ceramic and steel plate together so that they are strongly bonded. Since it is manufactured by stackinglayers of materials composed of ceramics, plastic fillers and steel plates instead of stacking a single material like this, the sustained-release composite gloves are professionally called <layer composite armor>.
The first layered composite glove developed by the UK uses about 70% of AlO3 (aluminum oxide) and about 30% of high-hardness steelplate, and a plastic filler that fixes the ceramic as an additional material is applied. The first-generation layered composite armor developed by the UK had only
1.1 to 1.2 times the weight efficiency against kinetic energy bullets such as APFSDS .
However, the weight efficiency of the shaped charge ammunition was 3.0 times higher than the RHA, so it was able to defend against all the shaped charge ammunition existing at the time.
A Merkava tank damaged by anti-tank weapons. Along with the appearance of the screw protrusion used to fix the ceramic, you can see that it is a form of several layers of armor material.
Layered composite armor for K1 tanks?
At the time the British unveiled layered composite armor, there were no new tanks being
developed in the UK, so in July 1973, the first layered composite armor was applied to
the XM-815 tank , which was being developed by the US Army, that is, a new tank that
would later become the M1 Abrams. Installed and tested. After that, in 1974, the Shir-2 (FV
4030/3) tank ordered by King Pahlavi of Iran for 1,225 units was to be equipped with the
new composite armor.
However, when the Pahlavi dynasty collapsed due to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the
British Army took over the tank model that improved the Shir-2 and became the
Challenger-1 tank. And in accordance with NATO cooperation, it has become the standard
armor of the West, such as being introduced to Germany's Leopard 2 tank from 1978.
Above all, with the support of the United States, since 1986, Korea's K1 tank has been
equipped with layered composite armor equivalent to that of the M1 tank. Its structure was
a type in which 78% AlO3 (aluminum oxide) and 22% high-hardness steel plates were used.
Thanks to this, South Korea became the fourth country in the West to deploy a third generation
tank with layered composite armor.
It is a T80U tank of the ROK Army. Thanks to this disassembly and analysis, we know the excellent armor technology of Russia.
Emergence of the 2nd generation composite glove
,which was dismantled and researched jointly by Korea's Defense Science Research Institute
and the United States, boasted armor defense efficiency that was far ahead of that of the West.
The details are postponed until later, but the former Soviet Union utilized relatively inexpensive steel and ceramic pellet materials to have high APFSDS bullet protection, while supplementing the relatively poor shaped charge defense capability with explosive reactive armor.
At the time of its appearance in 1985, the T-80U, the crystallization of that technology, has a
new armor material with both composite armor elements and inactive reactive armor
elements inside the turret, and second-generation Kontakt-5 ERA capable of responding to
APFSDS bullets outside the turret. I had it installed.
As a result, it boasted 500-550mm of defense compared to APFSDS bullets and 1,100mm of
defense compared to shaped charge bullets.
◆ Western technology in the 1980s?
Compared to the T-80U, the layered composite armor of the US M1A1 tank, which began
deployment in August 1985, had only 350-400mm of defense against APFSDS bullets and
1,000mm against shaped charge shells.
The western side also had a problem with armor protection, but the firepower of the
120mm smoothbore gun applied to the M1A1 at the time was only 500mm at 1,000m
(M-827 APFSDS deployed in 1984), so it could not respond properly to the T-80U.
By comparison, the 3BM32 round for Russian 125mm tank guns deployed from 1985 had a
penetration of 550mm at 1,000m and could penetrate the frontal armor of Western main
n battle tanks at 1,500m. Naturally, the threat felt by the United States and the West was quite large, so the US Army started to develop the M1A2 tank, which was developed in February 1985 and completed in 1992, using the second generation composite armor using depleted uranium.
American M1A1 HA tank. Depleted Uranium greatly improves armor, but is too heavy.
◆ Appearance of depleted uranium armor
The American method was in fact simply ignorant. Focusing on the fact that when an APFSDS bullet collides with a metal body with high density and excellent strength, the front part of the penetrator is crushed like a mushroom, we tried to use uranium metal , the heaviest material on earth . However, since the use of radioactive uranium could expose the crew to radiation, so- called depleted uranium (DU) , which has reduced radiation through special treatment, is used. Thanks to this, the second-generation layered composite armor containing depleted uranium panels deployed on the M1A2 tank boasted about 600-650mm of defense against APFSDS bullets and 1,200mm against shaped charge bullets, surpassing the armor level of the former Soviet Union for the first time. However, thanks to the heavy use of uranium in large quantities, its combat weight reached a whopping 65 tons. In 1991, the M1A1 tank, which was active in the ground warfare of the Gulf War, was quickly replaced with a composite armor module containing depleted uranium armor material in the field, becoming the M1A1 HA (Heavy Armor). In return, the combat weight was increased to 62 tons, an increase of 7 tons compared to the combat weight of the existing M1 tank, which was 55 tons . This was also a prime example of the considerable inefficiency of Western armor technology compared to the T-80U, which, with a combat weight of 45 tonnes, had equivalent protection to the M1A1 HA.
This is the Challenger-2 tank that adopted the 3rd generation layered composite armor for
the first time.
UK's 3rd generation layered composite glove
While our American friends boasted that their depleted uranium armor could withstand any
Soviet threat, it was actually a very dangerous technology. When the glove is broken, radiation spurts out from there. So England, the originator of composite gloves, started to use a new technology, not the way of ignorant Yankee friends.
It was the introduction of computer simulation technology with excellent hardness and
bending strength (Young's modulus) instead of depleted uranium, which was also used by
the United States, and the use of the latest ceramics. It was the introduction of computer simulation technology , which was also used by the United States, and the use of the latest ceramics with excellent hardness and bending strength (Young's modulus) instead of depleted uranium .
◆ Appearance of new ceramics
As mentioned earlier, the first-generation layered composite gloves used AlO3 (aluminum oxide) ceramics. This material had a hardness of 1,000 to 1,600 kg/mm and a Young's modulus of 250 to 370 GPa. Through this, the defense efficiency was 1.1 to 1.2 times higher than that of kinetic energy shells and three times higher than that of shaped charge shells. After that, from the mid-1980s, non-oxide ceramics such as SiC, B4C, Si3N4, and TiB2, which are much more expensive but have high hardness and Young's modulus, appeared in large quantities. For reference, the higher the hardness, the better the armor material, and the higher the Young's modulus, the more advantageous it is because it is not easily damaged by impact.
Please refer to the table below.
Characteristic table of ceramics for armor materials
Material: AlO3 / SiC/ Si3N4/ B4C/ TiB2
Density: 3.4~3.9/ 3.15~3.2/ 3.25/ 2.48/ 4.48 (g/cm)
Young's modulus 250-370/ 410-450/ 270-390/ 460/ 570/ (GPa)
Hardness 1,000~1,600/ 2,500~2,700/ Over 1,600/ 3,000/ 2,500(kg/mm)
Relative price: 1/ 5~10/ 4~5/ 20/ 20~25
Looking at the ceramic characteristics table, compared to AlO3 (aluminum oxide) used in the first- generation composite gloves,
SiC (silicon carbide ), which is newly widely used in the second-generation composite gloves, has more than twice the hardness and more than 1.5 times higher Young's modulus . I can tell. Higher hardness is advantageous for kinetic energy projectiles such as APFSDS projectiles.
Of course, the most ideal ceramic materials are TiB2 (titanium diboride) or B4C (boron carbide), but they are 2 to 4 times more expensive than SiC. So, TiB2 (titanium diboride) or B4C (boron carbide) is widely used in bulletproof seats of helicopters (Korea's Surion also uses this), where weight reduction is important, and SAPI bulletproof panels of US Army infantry body armor . In the case of main battle tanks, there are relatively less weight restrictions and a huge amount of ceramics must be used, so whether it is England, Korea, or Germany, among ceramics, SiC, which has excellent defense efficiency and is relatively inexpensive, is widely used. In Korea, starting with KSAP (Korean Special Composite Armor) introduced in the K1A1 tank, SiC ceramics are being used in large quantities in the K2 Black Panther Tank and the K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
The left one is the actual penetration form, and the right one is the analysis of the penetration form of the penetrator through computer simulation, and it can be seen that both are almost similar.
◆ Emergence of computer simulation technology
It can be seen that the new SiC (Silicon Carbide) is about twice as good as the old AlO3 (Aluminum Oxide) in hardness and Young's modulus, but its density is almost the same, so it can increase the defense efficiency by about twice. In addition to this, computer simulation programs such as LS-DYNA 3D made it possible to predict in advance what happens when APFSDS bullets penetrate composite armor, damage due to shock waves, and spread of stress. Thanks to this, it is now possible to optimally arrange armor materials and structures within weeks to months through computer simulation, which would have required years of penetration testing in the past. As a result, the 3rd generation layered composite armor is capable of securing almost equal protection against APFSDS bullets without the use of heavy metals such as depleted uranium .
The 3rd generation layered composite armor, developed for the first time in the UK , is evaluated to have more than 600mm of defense against APFSDS bullets, about twice the weight of RHA , and more than 1,200mm of defense against shaped explosive rounds.
After the UK developed it, France and Germany developed and deployed third-generation composite armor, and the domestic KSAP introduced in Korea's K1A1 tank also corresponds to the third generation. In addition, the K2 Black Panther, which appeared in 2008, was applied with a third-generation composite armor equivalent to that of England, France, and Germany, and the technology was exported to Turkey.
Appearance of 4th generation composite armor?
Due to the advent of the 3rd generation composite armor, there was an era in which the armor surpassed the APFSDS bullet penetration for a while. However, due to the rapid development of APFSDS penetrator and propellant technology, new Western APFSDS bullets that appeared in the
mid-to-late 2000s or monsters such as Korea's K279 boast a penetration of more than 700mm.
Russia, in particular, did not stand still. As explained in Military Review Easy 2004 , the T14 Armata developed a new 3BM60 APFSDS round along with the 2A82-1M smoothbore gun system, which is said to be the most powerful in existence, as the new vertical autoloader became available.
3BM60 APFSDS ammunition.
Here, it was confirmed that the total length of the penetrator (including wing + front tip) of the 3BM60 APFSDS bullet was at the level of 700mm through published photos. And by using depleted uranium as a penetrator material and increasing new equipment at the same time, Russia claims that it can penetrate about 900mm of RHA (Rolled Homogeneous Armor).
Western experts are a bit skeptical about this, but most admit that it can penetrate 700-800mm RHA at a distance of 2km. This corresponds to the penetration power enough to threaten the 2nd or 3rd generation composite armor mounted on the US M1A2 or Leopard-2 late tank at a distance of 1,000 m.
Above is the old M1A2 tank, below is the turret of the M1A2C tank. It can be seen that the new armor has been installed on the M1A2C tank, and experts are analyzing that it is a 4th generation composite armor applied with slope functional metal composite (MMC).
◆ New technology for 4th generation composite gloves
In response to the new threat from Russia, the 4th generation composite armor using MMC (Metal Matrix Composite) technology hasbegun to be applied to the latest models such as the M1A2C tank, which the United States began modifying and producing in 2019, and the German Leopard-2A7 . do.
To briefly explain the metal composite material (MMC) introduced in detail in Military Review Easy 2004, it is possible to reduce the weight by about 30% compared to the existing 3rd generation composite armor structure by synthesizing metal and ceramic together to demonstrate the ability of a functional slope material. .
Currently, the first company to develop the latest 4th generation composite glove using metal composite (MMC) is IBD of Germany (which was absorbed by the famous Rheinmetall Group), and 4th generation composite materials called AMAP and Leopard Revolution are in the form of a kit. They sell it and make huge profits.
This is a type of glove kit that uses the 4th generation composite glove technology produced by IBD, Germany.
The United States also remodeled the turret shape from the M1A2C tank, and at the same time is equipped with 4th generation composite armor using MMC materials developed under the leadership of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) . Currently, American experts are estimating that the kinetic energy bullet defense of the 4th generation composite armor applied with metal composite material will reach 900mm.
It shows the defense efficiency of domestic metal composite materials disclosed by KIMS (Korea Institute of Materials Science).
In Korea, the Defense Science Research Institute recognized the importance of metal composite (MMC) technology and is developing it by supporting research budget to KIMS (Korea Institute of Materials Science and Technology ). The metal composite technology developed in Korea has a mass efficiency of 3.57 based on RHA (Homogeneous Rolled Steel Plate) . In other words, when RHA is set to 1, it has 3.57 times the defense compared to RHA of the same weight , which means that it exerts the same defense with only 28% of the thickness compared to RHA steel plate . However, this corresponds to a test prototype developed by the KIMS Research Institute, and the final development goal is to develop a bulletproof panel module with a ceramic content of 40% or more and a size of 300x300x25mm or more that can be applied to tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.
With this, it is judged that the question about Military Review Easy 2004 has been resolved.
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