Projectile Spall Generating Armor Plate

Abstract

A projectile spall generating armor plate incorporating a rigid plate having a first strike face; a matrix of closed loop bullet cleaving edges, each edge among the matrix of closed loop bullet cleaving edges being fixedly attached to or formed wholly with the first strike face; a matrix of second strike faces, each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces being substantially square and being bounded by one of the closed loop bullet cleaving edges; and a matrix of bullet cleaving points or pyramid apexes, each such point or apex being fixedly attached to or formed wholly with one of the second strike faces; the plate further incorporating a matrix of pedestals having a strike face ends, wherein each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces coincides with one of the pedestals' strike face ends.

The invention hereby claimed is: 
     
         1 . A projectile spall generating armor plate comprising:
 (a) a rigid plate having a first strike face;   (b) a matrix of closed loop bullet cleaving edges, each edge among the matrix of closed loop bullet cleaving edges being fixedly attached to or formed wholly with the first strike face;   (c) a matrix of second strike faces, each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces being bounded by one of the closed loop bullet cleaving edges; and   (d) a matrix of bullet cleaving points, each point among the matrix of bullet cleaving points being fixedly attached to or formed wholly with one of the second strike faces.   
     
     
         2 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 1  wherein each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces is substantially square. 
     
     
         3 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 2  further comprising a matrix of pedestals, each pedestal among the matrix of pedestals having a plurality of side walls and having a strike face end, wherein each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces comprises one of the pedestals' strike face ends. 
     
     
         4 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 3  further comprising a matrix of pyramids having apexes, each point among the matrix of bullet cleaving points comprising one of the pyramids' apexes. 
     
     
         5 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 4  wherein each pyramid among the matrix of pyramids comprises a square pyramid. 
     
     
         6 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 5  wherein each strike face among the matrix of second strike faces forms a substantially square border around one of the square pyramids. 
     
     
         7 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 6  further comprising a grid of “U” channels, said grid being fixedly attached to or formed wholly with the rigid plate. 
     
     
         8 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 7  wherein each channel among the grid of “U” channels comprises a pair of side walls, each such side wall comprising a plurality of the pedestals' side walls. 
     
     
         9 . The projectile spall generating armor plate of  claim 8  wherein the rigid plate is composed of steel.