CMEDE Partners with CoorsTek to Fabricate Armor Materials

Sep 15, 2021 | No Comments | By Jessica Ader

The Center for Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (CMEDE) has partnered with CoorsTek, a manufacturer of technical ceramics, to develop advanced ceramic materials for military armor applications.

Due to its potential for improvements in ballistic performance for soldier protection at very low weight, boron carbide was studied as a model material in CMEDE.  CMEDE researchers worked in close collaboration with researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Rutgers University to enhance our understanding of boron carbide in order to develop new formulations and processing routes for this material. These new formulations have shown significant improvements in key properties like hardness, strength, and toughness. Partnering with CoorsTek allowed CMEDE to scale-up from creating laboratory-sized specimens to industrial-sized plates.

Prof. Lori Graham-Brady, director of CMEDE, says this partnership is critical.  “The partnership between CMEDE and CoorsTek demonstrates a major transition. With the ability to create and test new materials at a large scale, we can further improve upon ceramic materials that will protect our military and save soldiers’ lives.”