Silicon Carbide Armor

Silicon carbide armor is used in:

Body armor (torso, side, shoulder plates)

Vehicle and aircraft armor (lightweight ballistic panels)

Tactical shields and riot barriers

Anti-drone and UAV protection
Its multi-hit capability, lightweight, and corrosion resistance make it ideal for military, police, and high-risk industrial protection.

Ceramic plates provide hard, high-hardness surfaces which have the ability to defeat armor-piercing ammunition.
SiC ceramic plates can be used to arrest 7.62mm NATO steel-core bullets while keeping the plate weight low—typically 2.5–3.6 kg per torso plate. Their fracture behavior dissipates impact energy and prevents over-penetration, which is crucial in combat and police use.

The production of ceramic armor involves the following steps:

Powder Selection – Using high-purity silicon carbide powder

Forming – Shaping through dry pressing, slip casting, or CNC molding

Sintering – Densifying the material at temperatures exceeding 1650°C

Machining – Conducting precision CNC cutting and surface grinding

Inspection – Performing dimensional, ballistic, and structural quality checks

Silicon carbide sits between alumina and boron carbide on the trade-off spectrum of weight, performance and cost.

Alumina is the most economical one with mature technology. But among the armor materials, it is the heaviest. It is used for basic vehicles and low-cost panels.

Boron carbide is the lightest and hardest one. It gives the best protection per kilogram. However, B₄C is extremely expensive and brittle. It’s only reserved for the highest-end and weight-sensitive applications.

SiC offers a comprehensive performance of lightweight, hardness and stiffness. It has a far more attractive price point than B₄C, resulting in widespread use in modern defense plate systems.

In practice, you can choose alumina for lowest cost, SiC for the best cost-effectiveness, and B₄C when you must achieve the best results for high-end applications. Remember that ceramic plates are only one part of ballistic systems. Backing materials and design are also important.

Silicon carbide provides good strength and weight. With Mohs hardness of 9.5, it will dull projectiles while acting as an effective energy-dissipater. SiC armor has remarkable low density that lighter than steel and alumina, provideing less load and high impact resistance. The high stiffness minimizes additional weight but effectively holds the energize it will dissapear with withstand and moderate. For these reasons, SiC has become an economically and  superior option in the modern lightweight armor systems.

Silicon carbide armor achieves stronger ballistic protection with less weight. The chief advantage is its low density, approximately 40% lower than that of steel. Thus, SiC plates can yield equivalent to or better protection at half the weight, leading to increased mobility and endurance.

Steel absorbs energy by plastic deformation. SiC ceramic armor defeats bullets through “consume and crush”. Upon impact by a projectile, SiC armor either blunt or shatters the bullet tip instantaneously. During the time the tip is fracturing, the microscopic fracture cone dissipates impact energy naturally and effectively. The backing layer absorbs the rest of the energy to ensure penetration is avoided. This impact function provide a ballistic efficiency higher than conventional armor at even thinner plates.

SiC armor plate also offers excellent multi-hit capability. Its modular tile design ensures that only the struck area is damaged, while adjacent tiles remain intact. In contrast, steel armor softens and weakens around the impact zone. In addition, silicon carbide is corrosion-resistant, non-magnetic and heat-stable, suitable for extreme environments where steel would fail.