Spall liners in combination with blast mitigation materials for vehicles

Abstract

Spall suppressing ballistic resistant vehicular armor. More particularly, a lightweight spall suppressing ballistic resistant vehicular armor system incorporating both a spall resistant liner and a blast mitigating material. The blast mitigating material is positioned contiguous to a vehicle hull to thereby space the spall resistant liner from the vehicle hull, thereby improving the performance of the liner and the overall system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A ballistic resistant article comprising:
 a) an elastically deformable blast mitigating material having first and second surfaces; and   b) a spall resistant substrate coupled with at least one of said first and second surfaces of said blast mitigating material, said spall resistant substrate comprising fibers having a tenacity of about 7 g/denier or more and a tensile modulus of about 150 g/denier or more.   
     
     
         2 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material comprises a material that is at least partially hollow. 
     
     
         3 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material comprises an elastically deformable sheet comprising a plurality of integrally formed elastically deformable protrusions. 
     
     
         4 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material comprises at least one pair of elastically deformable sheets spaced from each other to define a cavity therebetween, each sheet having a plurality of inwardly facing, opposing, elastically deformable protrusions extending into the cavity. 
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 4  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material comprises at least one additional elastically deformable sheet comprising a plurality of integrally formed elastically deformable protrusions, said at least one additional sheet comprising a plurality of outwardly and/or inwardly facing elastically deformable protrusions, and said at least one additional sheet being attached to at least one surface of said pair of spaced apart elastically deformable sheets. 
     
     
         6 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a spall resistant substrate is coupled with only one of said first and second surfaces of the elastically deformable blast mitigating material. 
     
     
         7 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a spall resistant substrate is coupled with both of said first and second surfaces of the elastically deformable blast mitigating material. 
     
     
         8 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate is adhesively attached to said elastically deformable blast mitigating material. 
     
     
         9 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material has a thickness of at least about 1-inch (2.54 cm). 
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said elastically deformable blast mitigating material has a thickness of at least about 2-inches (5.08 cm). 
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate comprises fibers having surfaces that are at least partially covered with a polymeric binder material. 
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate comprises a consolidated plurality of woven fibrous plies. 
     
     
         13 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate comprises a consolidated plurality of non-woven fibrous plies. 
     
     
         14 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate comprises a consolidated plurality of cross-plied, non-woven fibrous plies wherein each non-woven fibrous ply comprises a plurality of unidirectionally oriented fibers. 
     
     
         15 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said spall resistant substrate has an areal density of from about 0.5 lb/ft 2  to about 5.0 lb/ft 2 . 
     
     
         16 . The article of  claim 1  further comprising a protective cover on an outer surface of the spall resistant substrate. 
     
     
         17 . A reinforced object which comprises an object coupled with a ballistic resistant article, the ballistic resistant article comprising:
 a) an elastically deformable blast mitigating material having first and second surfaces;   b) a spall resistant substrate coupled with at least one of said first and second surfaces of said blast mitigating material, said spall resistant substrate comprising fibers having a tenacity of about 7 g/denier or more and a tensile modulus of about 150 g/denier or more; and optionally   c) a protective cover on an outer surface of the spall resistant substrate;   wherein the blast mitigating material is contiguous to the object.   
     
     
         18 . The reinforced object of  claim 17  wherein said object is a vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . The reinforced object of  claim 17  wherein the elastically deformable blast mitigating material comprises a material that is at least partially hollow, wherein at least a portion of the volume between the object and the spall resistant substrate is occupied by air. 
     
     
         20 . A method of forming a ballistic resistant article which comprises:
 a) providing an elastically deformable blast mitigating material having first and second surfaces;   b) adjoining at least one of said first and second surfaces of the blast mitigating material with at least one spall resistant substrate, said spall resistant substrate comprising fibers having a tenacity of about 7 g/denier or more and a tensile modulus of about 150 g/denier or more; and   c) optionally covering an outer surface of the at least one spall resistant substrate with a protective cover.