Defence Science Journal, Vol. 67, No. 4, July 2017, pp. 412-419, DOI : 10.14429/dsj.67.

11468
 2017, DESIDOC

Future Armour Materials and Technologies for Combat Platforms

B. Bhav Singh*, G. Sukumar, P. Ponguru Senthil, P.K. Jena, P.R.S. Reddy,
K. Siva Kumar, V. Madhu, and G.M. Reddy
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad – 500 058, India
*
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
The ultimate goal of armour research is to create better armour for battle worthy combat plat forms such as main
battle tanks, infantry combat vehicles and light combat vehicles. In each of these applications, the main aim boils
down to one of the two things; either reduce the weight without sacrificing protection or enhance the performance
at same or even reduced weight. In practice, these ambitions can be fulfilled only if we have with us, appropriate
improved armour materials, advanced and innovative technologies and also improved designs, which enable us to
use them for creating next generation armour modules. Armour systems have progressed through improvements in
metallic, ceramic and lightweight (low areal density) composite materials. Similarly, the advances in development
of explosive reactive armour (ERA) and non-explosive reactive armour (NERA) have generated efficient armour
system against contemporary high explosive antitank ammunition and missile threats for the armoured vehicles.
Yet, to achieve armour performance exceeding that of the current light combat vehicles and main battle tanks,
further advancements in armour materials, systems, and survivability technologies are required for new vehicular
systems that weigh significantly less than the present combat platforms. Various approaches and advancements in
the metallic and composite armour materials, ERA and NERA systems to improve the survivability of armoured
vehicles in the futuristic multi-spectral battlefield scenarios are described.
Keywords: Steel armour; Composite materials; Combat vehicles; Bulging armour; Reactive protection system

1. Introduction The various types of candidate materials and systems

During the past several years there has been many fold for armour applications namely advance materials like
increase in the threat level and the armour materials have, steel armour, polymer matrix composite armour, laminated
indeed undergone great changes to meet the challenge. There is composite armour, explosive reactive armour, non explosive
a need to continue to develop materials and modules which can reactive armour for different types of threats are discussed.
withstand all futuristic threats. This calls for novel concepts in
design and testing methods for optimisation of armour even 2. Rolled Homogeneous Armour Steel
ahead of the ammunition, to create systems that are protected (Spade steel)
well. The weight of armour in combat vehicles has always been Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) steel (Table 1)
constrained by the overall weight of the vehicle and the power- has remained the standard armour world over on most of
to-weight ratio. Changes in the type of threats in recent years the tanks. Its low cost, reliability, availability of production
have led to a shift in focus on the need for protection against infrastructure, concurrent utility as a structural material
multi-spectral threats. Enormous efforts are being put world and its ease of fabrication have enabled this steel to hold
over on the development of armour materials and systems on to its prime position. This steel armour continues to be
to provide greater ballistic protection with minimum weight used in the tempered martensitic microstructure after heat
penalty. For providing such a protection, it is essential to create treatment which involves hardening to increase its resistance
high performance passive, reactive, dynamic and active armour to penetration by projectiles and then tempering to make it
technologies with creative armour design concepts. Today, no tougher and therefore enhance the energy absorbing capability
single material is capable of effectively defeating wide range against impacting projectiles. Also, intense research in ferrous
of threats, and hence, a wide variety of armours have to be metallurgy has led to greater improvements in the ballistic
developed. The most important element of survivability is performance of the steel. Ability to increase its hardness
armour protection. In the beginning, battle tanks were made while maintaining adequate toughness has been the key to this
solely of steels. In recent years the situation has changed with success for achieving its high performance. These wonderful
the emergence of excellent armour materials. advancements have been achieved through micro-alloying,
inclusion shape control, and thermo-mechanical processing
Received : 22 February 2017, Revised : 10 May 2017 and grain refinement.
Accepted : 18 May 2017, Online published : 03 July 2017

412
 singh, et al.: Future Armour Materials and Technologies for Combat Platforms

3. Medium hardness Armour Steel around 450 VHN coupled with good impact toughness. The
The development of medium hardness steel essentially mechanical properties of the steel in the as-received condition
focused on selection of suitable heat treatment cycles on are compared with the mechanical properties of the steel in the
rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) steel (Table 1) in order to modified tempering condition in Table 2. It can be observed
obtain medium hardness with improved ballistic properties and that there is a considerable increase in the yield strength and
without any cracking tendencies. This approach has advantage ultimate tensile strength of the steel at the cost of little ductility
of using existing steel and existing production infrastructure in comparison to the presently used RHA steel by adopting
making scale up to industrial level practicable. The activities modified tempering conditions. The hardness also shows
involved are the optimisation of heat treatment on RHA steel in a substantial rise at both the tempering conditions than the
order to get medium hardness, subsequent mechanical property presently used steel hardness.
and microstructural evaluation, and ballistic evaluation against
Table 2. Mechanical properties of RHA Steel at different
small arms and large caliber ammunition. Presently RHA
tempering temperatures
steel is used for the manufacturing of structural parts of battle
tanks in India and it has a hardness value of around 300 VHN. Tempering YS UTS % Hardness CVN (J)
This steel was made by Steel Authority of India Limited and temp. (ºC) (MPa) (MPa) El (VHN) at RT
supplied in the form of rolled plates. In this work, objective
was to enhance the hardness of RHA steel to about 400-450 450 1380 1520 13 457 35
VHN by employing suitable heat treatment procedures. The 500 1306 1450 14 430 44
targeted hardness is nearly 50 per cent higher than the existing 650 900 1000 15 300 90
RHA steel being used. While increase in hardness and strength
of steel results in improved ballistic properties, it is generally 3.2 Weldability
accompanied by a loss in impact properties and weldability1-2. Weldability of the modified heat treated RHA steel was
Weldability is an important issue since fabrication of structures, evaluated by Tekken tests and results have been found to
armour modules, etc. employ welding extensively for joining. be satisfactory up to 25 mm thickness in 450 °C tempered
Thus, it becomes essential to optimise processing parameters condition and up to 80 mm thickness in steel plates tempered at
specially heat treatment to achieve higher hardness and strength 500 °C. Figure 1 displays the 80 mm thick Tekken test specimen
without significant loss in weldability. after the welding process. The Tekken test specimens were
Table 1. Chemical composition of rha steel cut into slices across the thickness for further observation.
Figure 2 illustrates the microstructures of 500 °C tempered
C Si Mn Cr Ni Mo V Fe welded samples of 80 mm thickness plate. No visual cracks
0.28- 0.1- 0.4- 1.4- 1.5- 0.4- 0.08- were observed. Local critical stress was found to be about
Balance
0.33 0.25 0.6 1.5 1.7 0.45 0.12 560MPa for 500 °C tempered welded specimens as shown in
Fig. 3.
3.1 Mechanical Properties
By varying the tempering temperature of RHA steel, a
wide range of mechanical properties are achieved. The yield
strength and tensile strengths varied in the ranges of 1146
MPa - 1463 MPa and 1247 MPa - 1900 MPa, respectively.
The hardness of the steel varies between 381 VHN - 586
VHN. The charpy impact energy varies in the range of 19J
- 85 J depending on tempering temperature. Based on the
hardness and CVN energy results, two tempering temperatures
450°C and 500 °C are selected which produced a hardness of Figure 1. 80 mm Tekken specimen after welding.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2. Microstructure of 500 °C tempered 80 mm thick Tekken specimens (a) Base metal, (b) Base metal – weldments interface,
and (c) HAZ.

413
 Def. SCI. J., Vol. 67, No. 4, july 2017

normalised dop
stree (MPa)

temperature (°C)
failure time (min)
Figure 5. Large caliber ballistic evaluation results.
Figure 3. Stress-time curve for 500 °C tempering condition.
tanks or can be used as add-on armour for battle tanks. The high
3.3 Ballistic Performance hardness steels are therefore going to play an important role
The medium hardness steel plates tempered at 500 °C in the design of fighting vehicles for improved performance
were ballistically tested against 125 mm FSAPDS ammunition against the kinetic energy threats.
(Fig. 4). The large caliber ballistic test results are as shown in DMR-1700 steel (Table 3) is a medium carbon low alloy
Fig. 5 and it can be observed that ballistic performance of high hardness steel developed by DMRL. This steel has shown
the 500 °C tempered plates is approximately 10 per cent - promising results for armour application due to its high strength
15 per cent better than the presently used RHA steel plates. and hardness values. Figure 6 shows the microstructures of
Against armour piercing projectiles such as 7.62 AP and the steel plates after heat treatment. Tempered martensitic
12.7 AP, medium hardness plates showed about 20 per cent - microstructure is observed in all the plates up to 50 mm
25 per cent improvement in ballistic performance measured in thickness. Table 4 displays the comparison of mechanical
terms of depth of penetration. properties of DMR-1700 steel plates and RHA steel. The
strength and hardness of DMR-1700 steel are significantly
higher in comparison to RHA.

Table 3. Chemical composition of DMR-1700 steel (wt%)

C Si Mn Cr Ni Mo Co Fe
0.33- 1.8- 0.35- 0.8- 2.8-
<1 <1 Balance
0.38 2.3 0.65 1.2 3.2

Figure 4. 500 °C tempered steel plates tested against 125 mm

FSAPDS ammunition.

4. High hardness Armour Steel: DMR-

1700 Steel
For a given impact velocity, the DOP can be reduced by
increasing the hardness and strength of the armour steel. By
using high hardness steels, the protection can be increased
considerably for a given weight of armour or the weight of the
armour can be reduced for a given threat. High hardness steels Figure 6. Optical microstructure of 50 mm DMR 1700 steel
can be used as components of armour modules fitted in the plate.

414
 singh, et al.: Future Armour Materials and Technologies for Combat Platforms

Table 4. Comparison of mechanical properties of DMR-1700 Table 5. Chemical composition of high nitrogen steel (wt%)
plates with RHA steel
C Cr Mn N Si P (max) S (max) Fe
YS UTS Hardness % CVN @
Steel 0.03- 17.5- 17.5- 0.5- 0.3-
(MPa) (MPa) (VHN) El RT(J) 0.06 0.015 Bal
0.06 20 20 0.7 0.7
DMR 1700 1610 1970 580 11 34
large caliber ammunitions. From the ballistic test it is seen
RHA 900 1000 300 15 90
that HNS exhibits improved ballistic performance of about 35
per cent against soft projectiles, 10 per cent against armour
4.1 Ballistic Performance piercing projectiles and similar performance against long
The ballistic performance of high hardness steel (DMR- rod kinetic energy projectiles (125FSAPDS) as compared to
1700 steel) has been evaluated against various small arms RHA steel3.
ammunition as well as against large caliber ammunitions.
DMR 1700 steel shows much improved ballistic performance 6. Glass Composites Laminates
in comparison to RHA. This can be attributed to the high Fighting vehicles comprising light weight armour made
strength and hardness of DMR 1700 steel in comparison to up of ceramic and polymer composite possess better mobility,
RHA. From the ballistic test it is seen that DMR-1700 steel fighting ability and fire power as compared to the vehicle
exhibits improved ballistic performance of about 25 per cent with traditional steel armour. From the past two decades
against 7.62 AP ammunition and 20 per cent against long rod glass, aramid and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene
kinetic energy projectiles (125FSAPDS) (Fig. 7) as compared (UHMWPE) fibre reinforced composites have gained
to RHA steel. considerable importance for structural and add-on armour
applications due to their high specific strength and high
energy absorption under dynamic loads4-6. Effect of type of
fibre reinforcements such as glass, aramid, carbon and ultra
high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) on ballistic
performance was reported. Energy absorption mechanisms
normalised DOP

of different fiber reinforced composites have been addressed

by various researchers through analytical, numerical and
experimental studies7-10. Though impact performance studies
on E-glass/epoxy composites are extensively carried out by
various researchers, there is a scanty information available
on comparative performance of E-glass/epoxy and E-glass/
phenolic composites under high velocity impact especially
against 125 mm FSAPDS. Therefore there is need to carry out
comparative study on effect of matrix on ballistic performance
of glass composite laminates against long rod penetrators.
ammunition

Figure 7. Ballistic performance comparison of DMR 1700 steel 6.1 Ballistic Evaluation
and RHA steel. Two different composite laminates namely E-glass/epoxy
and E-glass / phenolic laminates were subjected to ballistic
5. High Nitrogen Steel evaluation against 125 mm FSAPDS ammunition. Performance
There has always been a demand to reduce the weight of the laminates is compared by measuring the depth of
of armoured structures used in various ballistic applications. penetration in backing steel plates. Ballistic evaluation was
Weight reduction can be achieved by using newer materials carried out at PXE, Balasore range using 125 mm FSAPDS
having better ballistic performance or by changing the design ammunition with tungston heavy alloy (WHA) penetrator. The
of armour systems. Traditionally, high strength low alloy steel penetrator was fired from smooth bore gun of T-72 tank at a
with tempered martensitic microstructure has been widely used impact velocity of 1650±30 m/s. Residual depth of penetration
in various armour applications. Apart from high strength low in backing RHA plates was measured. Schematic diagram for
alloy steels, studies have also been carried out on other class of measurement of residual depth of penetration in RHA plates
steels such as secondary hardening steels, auto tempered steels, is as shown in Fig. 8. Thickness and mass efficiency of the
maraging steels, bainitic steels and nickel free high nitrogen composites were calculated and compared with RHA. Due to
steels (HNS) for potential ballistic applications. the limitations on availability of material only limited no of
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), tests were performed.
Hyderabad has recently developed high nitrogen steel Mass and thickness efficiencies for the both laminates
(Table 5) for armour applications. High nitrogen steel has been have been calculated and as shown in Table 6. From the data, it
produced industrially at M/s. Jindal stainless (Hisar) limited, is observed that both the laminates show approximately similar
Hisar, Haryana, India. The steel plates have been evaluated performance against FSAPDS ammunition with limited ballistic
against various small arms ammunition as well as against data, phenolic shows slightly better performance but this need

415
 Def. SCI. J., Vol. 67, No. 4, july 2017

Table 6. Mass efficiency and thickness efficiency of different target and thereby destroy the armour, whereas, the chemical
glass composites against 125 mm fsapds energy weapons produces high velocity jets and cause damage
to the armour. Long rod kinetic energy projectiles are used to
Module Mass efficiency Thickness efficiency
defeat thick armour plates used in main battle tanks13. Hence
E-glass/Phenolic 1.17 0.61 design of armour should be made such that it can reduce
E-glass/Epoxy 1.13 0.60 the penetration of the projectile by defeating the same. This
RHA 1.00 1.00 reduction in penetration can be achieved by appropriate
designing of armour materials. Hence, selection of materials
is very essential for design aspect. The properties of the
materials should be such that it can blunt the projectile, should
dissipate the shock waves generated during impact loading and
to absorb the energy of the projectiles by undergoing severe
plastic deformation. For blunting of projectile, a hard material
such as high hardness steel or ceramic can be used at the front.
However ceramic or high hardness materials cannot be used
at the front due to their brittle behaviour and thereby losing
the integrity of the laminate structure. Rolled homogeneous
armour is considered to be a suitable candidate to face the
initial impact. DMRL had designed and developed new
Kanchan armour modules for improved ballistic performance
against large caliber ammunitions by optimising the armour
structures for improved protection which can absorb lot of
impact energy.

Figure 8. DOP test configuration. 8. Materials For Explosive Reactive

Armour
to be verified with more number of experiments. Composites Explosive reactive armour (ERA) was developed to defeat
laminates shows better mass efficiency compared to RHA but shaped charge warheads and found to effectively reduce the
thickness efficiency is lesser than the RHA. The data suggests penetration. Explosive sheets were sandwiched between two
that it is required to use appropriate thickness of composites to metallic plates which when exposed will be initiated by the
get the optimum efficiency with respect to mass and thickness impact of the shaped charge. The moving metal plates interact
of armour modules. with the jet and cause damage to the jet14.
The explosive reactive armour contains an explosive layer
7. Kanchan Composite Armour in between two metal plates. The functioning of explosive
There has been a significant development in the penetration reactive armour is governed by two important mechanisms, Jet
capabilities of kinetic energy (KE) projectiles starting from perturbation and metal cutting effect of the jet15.
1950 to 2000. This development of KE rounds led to drastic When a shaped charge jet strike the ERA its explosive is
increase in the penetration of armour (RHA)11. Subsequent initiated within microseconds. Since the detonation products
design of newer weapons such as shape charge warheads are confined by two metallic plates, they attain velocity
also led to huge increase in penetration in RHA steel. These and density comparable to that of the jet. These detonation
advances led to the development of improved armour materials products collide with the incoming jet and the transverse
as also the designs, since more RHA is needed to provide the impact of detonation products makes the jet lose its linearity
increased requirements of protection. and coherency and there by its penetration power comes down.
It is now well-known that no single material can provide This mechanism is effective only during a fraction of the total
protection against all types of ammunition which work on life of the jet. The second mechanism, metal cutting effect is
quite different principles. Therefore, different materials caused by the interaction of the moving plate with the jet. The
are combined optimally in the form of composite armour to plate moves laterally with respect to the jet direction exposing
provide effective immunity. The first composite armour used new surface to the incoming jet, which causes the consumption
by British was Chobham armour which consisted of a layer of the jet16.
of ceramic between two plates of steel armour12. Today, all Defeat of long rod penetrators by explosive reactive
modern tanks invariably use composite armour in many armour occurs by breaking of the projectile by the moving
locations. The performance of composite armour materials can plates. Breaking of the projectiles needs high strength flyer
be further improved by choosing the right design. The stacking plates. The lateral movement of the plate with respect to the
sequence of the layers is also an important factor in improving projectile consumes the projectile and reduces the penetration
its ballistic performance. Composite armour gives protection power. Defeat of long rod projectile needs not only high
against most of the ammunitions i.e. K.E and shaped charge strength but also an optimum toughness so that the plate will
ammunitions. not disintegrate and stay continuous during the flight which is
The kinetic energy projectiles deliver momentum on the critical for the performance.

416
 singh, et al.: Future Armour Materials and Technologies for Combat Platforms

Recently explosive reactive armour has been developed

with hard armour steel plates to defeat shaped charge and to
reduce the penetration of long rod projectiles.
High strength armour steels have been developed for
use in explosive reactive armour. These steels are tempered
martensitic steel. The steel plates were tempered at different
temperatures such that the resulting mechanical properties will
suit the requirements. They were used as part of ERA sandwich
Figure 10. Working principles of non explosive reactive
structure. The ERA developed have resulted in 80 per cent
armour.
reduction in the shaped charge penetration (Fig. 9) and around
30 per cent reduction in the long rod penetration in RHA.
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 9. Experimental set up for ballistic evaluation of ERA

against shaped charge warhead.
Figure 11. (a) Photographs of the test set up for firing of NERA
9. Materials For Non-Explosive against shaped charge warhead and bulging armour
Reactive Armour panels (b) before and (c) after penetration.
Non explosive reactive armour (NERA) sandwiches are
attractive in add-on-armour applications. NERA is also called 10. Conclusions
bulging armour. While explosive reactive armour sandwiches The strength and hardness of the currently used RHA
are known to be extremely effective against shaped charge steel are increased substantially, to 1380 MPa and 450 VHN
jets, they have inherent disadvantages such as those caused respectively by adopting suitable heat treatment procedures.
by undesired interaction of the flying plates with the main Weldability of the medium hardness steel has been found to
armour and the environment. To overcome the significant be satisfactory up to 80 mm thickness in steel plates tempered
safety drawback posed by the explosive content of reactive at 500 °C. The medium hardness steel displayed around 10
armour, inert cassettes containing metallic sandwiches per cent - 15 per cent improvement in ballistic performance
with inert filling materials were proposed by Held16 and over currently used RHA steel. DMR-1700 steel plate’s shows
Lundgren17, et al. Jet-metal interaction involving momentum good combination of strength and impact toughness. There is
exchanges in a direction transverse to the jet motion are a significant improvement in ballistic performance of the high
considered to be the basic cause for jet disruption in a reactive hardness steel compared to RHA steel. Due to better ballistic
armour18. Figures 10 shows the basic working principle of non performance and lower cost, high nitrogen steel has potential
explosive reactive armour. Difference in the energy content to replace RHA (SPADE) steels in armour modules and add on
is the main feature that distinguishes inert cassette from the armour structures. Significant weight saving can be achieved in
reactive sandwich. armour solutions which are primarily used against deformable
Due to significant safety advantage, development of non projectiles by using HNS in the place of SPADE steel. In case
explosive reactive armour (bulging armour) has been pursued of armour solutions against armour piercing and long rod
at DMRL. Recent DMRL results of NERA against HEAT projectiles, application of HNS in place of SPADE steel will
missile have shown that NERA can reduce more than half result in significant cost reduction.
of the penetration of HEAT missile when compared to its Ballistic performance of laminated composite against
penetration in monolithic RHA steel plate19. Figure 11 shows 125mm FSAPDS residual depth of penetration shows similar
photographs of the test set up and bulging armour panels before for epoxy and phenolic based composite laminates. The study
and after penetration. shows type of resin is not affecting on ballistic performance

417
 Def. SCI. J., Vol. 67, No. 4, july 2017

of E-glass composite laminates when it is subjected to 125mm 11. Lanz, W.; Odermatt, W. & Weihrauch, G. Kinetic energy
FSAPDS ammunition. Laminate ballistic performance has projectiles: Development history, state of the art, trends.
been compared with RHA and found that mass efficiency is In 19th International Symposium on Ballistics, Interlaken,
better than RHA whereas thickness efficiency is inferior to Switzerland, 2001.
RHA plates. Kanchan composite armour can provide protection 12. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wiki/Composite_
against kinetic energy projectiles as well as chemical energy armour (Accessed on 03 Februray 2016).
based shaped charged projectiles. 13. Senthil, P. Ponguru; Kumar, K. Siva & Gogia, A.K.
High strength armour steels have been developed for use Terminal ballistic eroding long rod impact DMRL
in explosive reactive armour. The ERA developed has resulted technical report. Technical Report No. DRDO-DMRL-
in 80 per cent reduction in the shaped charge penetration and ADDG-019- 2012.
around 30 per cent reduction in the long rod penetration in 14. Elshenawy, Tamer; Ismail M.M & Reyad, A. Optimization
RHA. NERA can reduce more than half of the penetration of of performance of explosive reactive armours. In 21st
HEAT missile when compared to its penetration in monolithic International symposium on ballistics, Adelaide, Australia,
RHA steel plate. 2004, 1, P. 227.
15. Yadav, H.S.; Bohra, B.M.; Joshi, G.D.; Sundaram, S.G.
References Kamat, P.V. Study on basic mechanism of reactive armour.
1. Jena, P.K.; Bidyapati, Mishra; Babu, M. Ramesh; Babu Def. Sci. J., 1995, 45, 207-212.
A.K.; Singh, Arvindha, K; Kumar Siva & Bhat, T.B. Effect 16. Held, M. Schutzanordnung gegen Geschosse, insbesondere
of heat treatment on mechanical and ballistic properties of Hohlladungsgeschosse, 1973 German Patent No.
a high strength armour steel. Int. J. Impact Eng., 2010, 37, 2358227.
242-249. 17. Lundgren, R., Medin, G., Olsson, E. & Sjod, L. Reactive
doi: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2009.09.003 armor arrangements. 1987. US Patent No. 4881448.
2. Metals handbook. Ed. 9. Welding, Brazing and Soldering, 18. Mayseless, M., Erlich, Y., Falcovitz, J., Rosenberg, G.
American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH, ASM, & Wheis, D. (1984) Interaction of shaped charge jets
Vol. No. 6, 1983. with reactive armour. In 8th International Symposium on
3. Singh, B Bhav; Sukumar, G.; Kumar, K. Siva & Gogia, Ballistics, Orlando, USA.
A.K. Ballistic studies on nickel free high nitrogen steel. 19. Rao, S.S.; singh, B bhav; Papukutty, K.K.; Madhu, V.;
Technical Report No. DRDO-DMRL-ADDG-1-120- Siva kumar, K. & Bhat, T Balakrishna. Bulging composite
2016, 2016. armour against high explosive anti tank ammunitions.
4. Sutherland, L.S. & Soares, C.G. Impact characterization DMRL, TR No: 2002 313, 2002
of low fibre volume glass reinforced polyester circular
laminated plates. Int. J. Impact. Eng., 2005, 31, 1-23. Acknowledgments
doi: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2003.11.006 The authors would like to thank Director, DMRL for giving
5. Aslan, Z.; Karakuzu, R. & Okutan, B. The response of permission to publish this paper. The valuable suggestions of
laminated composite plates under low velocity impact Dr T. Balakrishna Bhat and Dr A.K. Gogia have been very
loading. Composite Structure, 2003, 59(1), 19-27. useful. The authors would like to thank PXE, Balasore for
doi: 10.1016/S0263-8223(02)00185-X conducting large caliber ammunition trials and HEMRL, Pune
6. Sutherland, L.S. & Soares, C.G. Impact on low fibre- for conducting HEAT ammunition trials on bulging armour
volume, glass polyester rectangular plates. Composite panels and ERA panels. Support of various groups and small
Structure, 2005, 68, 13-22. arms range of DMRL in different stages of this work is highly
doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2004.02.010 appreciated.
7. Larsson, F. & Svensson, L. Carbon, polyethylene and PBO
hybrid fiber composites for structural light weight armour. Contributors
Compos. Pt. A Appl. Sci. Manufact. 2002, 33, 221-231.
doi: 10.1016/S1359-835X(01)00095-1 Mr B. Bhav Singh obtained his MTech (Metallurgical & Materials
8. Morye, S.S.; Hine, P.J.; Duckett, R.A.; Carr, D.J. & Ward, engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in
I.M. Modelling of the energy absorption by polymer 2004. Currently he is working as Scientist E at Armour Design
and Development Division, Defence Metallurgical Research
composites upon ballistic impact. Compos. Sci. Technol.
Laboratory, Hyderabad. His research interests are in the areas
2000, 60, 2631-2642.
of development of steel, titanium armour, bulging armour.
doi: 10.1016/S0266-3538(00)00139-1 In the present work, he has carried out the experimental studies
9 Masta, M.R.O.; Crayton, D.H.; Deshpande, V.S & Wadley, on high hardness steel, medium hardness steel, high nitrogen
H.N.G. Mechanisms of penetration in olyethylene steels, bulging and preparation the manuscript.
reinforced cross-ply laminates. Int. J. Impact. Eng., 2015,
86, 249-264. Mr G. Sukumar obtained his MTech (Metallurgical and
10. Karahan, M.; Jabbar, A. & Karahan, N. Ballistic impact Materials engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology
behavior of the aramid and ultra-high molecular weight Madras, in 2009. Currently, he is working as Scientist-C
polyethylene composites. J. Reinf. Plast. Compos., 2015, at the Armour Design and Development Division, Defence
34(1) 37-48. Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. His research

418
 singh, et al.: Future Armour Materials and Technologies for Combat Platforms

interests are in the areas of development of steel, titanium Dr K. Siva Kumar obtained his PhD (Metallurgical and Materials
armour and bulging armour. Engineering) from IIT Bombay, Mumbai, in 1995. Presently, he
In the present work, he was involved in the experimental is working as Scientist G at Armour Design and Development
studies on high nitrogen steels, bulging armour and writing Division, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad.
manuscript. He is working in the areas of development of armour materials
and systems for various types of protective applications.
Mr P. Ponguru Senthil obtained his MTech (Metallurgical and His research interests are in the areas of composite armour
Materials engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology development, metallic armour materials and bulging armour.
Madras, in 2016. Presently he is working as Scientist-D at the In the present work, he was involved in planning of work
Armour Design and Development Division, Defence Metallurgical and arranging various materials and systems required for
Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. He is involved in the development experiments.
of armour steel plates for advanced explosive reactive armour
and medium hardness armour steel development. Dr Vemuri Madhu, obtained his PhD (Applied Mechanics)
In the present work, he was involved in the experimental from IIT Delhi, in 1993. Currently, he heads the Armour
studies on explosive reactive armour. Design and Development Division, Defence Metallurgical
Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. He is working in the areas
Mr P.K. Jena obtained his BE (Metallurgical engineering) from of development of armour materials and systems for various
Utkal Univesity, in 2001. Presently, he is working as Scientist types of protective applications. His research interests are :
‘D’ in Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. Ceramic and composite armour development, modelling and
He is working in the areas of development of armour materials simulation of ballistic phenomena, high strain rate, shock and
& systems for various types of protective applications. His blast studies.
research interests are in the areas of development of metallic In the present work, he was involved in design of experiments
armour materials like high hardness and medium hardness steel and analysis of test results.
and aluminium armour.
In the present work, he was involved in the development of Dr G. Madhusudhan Reddy obtained PhD (Metallurgical
high hardness armour steels, medium hardness steels and their Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in
weldability studies. 1999. Presently he is working as Scientist ‘H’ and heading
the Metal Joining Group of Defence Metallurgical Research
Mr P. Rama Subba Reddy obtained his MSc (Polymer Sci.) Laboratory, Hyderabad. He has more than 300 scientific
from S.K. University, Ananthapur, in 1998. Presently, he is publications to his credit.
working as Scientist E at Armour Design and Development In the present work, he has carried out the weldability studies
Division, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. of different armour materials such as high hardness steels and
He is working in the areas of development of armour materials medium hardness steels.
and systems for various types of protective applications. He
has rich experience in various areas like armour composites
and their evaluation for ballistic applications.
In the present work, he has carried out the experimental studies
on composites armour.

419