Defense & Security

The growing number of conflicts around the world and violence in general has led to an increase in requests for ballistic protection for the military, law enforcement agencies and armored vehicles. The main challenge is to provide them with effective and lightweight protection. 

Silicon Carbide is very well known as an effective material in armor protection.

As a material, SiC is:

• extremely hard
• mechanically strong
• lightweight

These combined properties make SiC a favored material for the Armor market, especially its lightness, since it limits the impact of armor’s weight on user performance (mobility and fuel consumption). 

Ceramic components can be densified by various forming techniques including hot pressing, dry pressing and slip casting. Sintering is then carried out to achieve the material’s unique properties. Typical components made from SiC are plates for body armor and tiles for vehicle protection.  

Tailor-made products 

Due to the specific nature of the defense and security market, Saint-Gobain can offer tailor-made products for armor applications. Our R&D experts are able to develop unique powder formulations and processing routes in our laboratories. State-of-the-art R&D equipment such as sintering furnace allow us to optimize and recommend forming techniques and sintering cycles to obtain the best possible performance. Close collaboration between R&D and production teams ensure a unique capacity to satisfy even the most stringent customer requests.

For further product information please send us your request.