2. Shielding ceramics

2.1 Ceramics for ballistic protection

As previously stated, while there is no clearly established relationship between the mechanical properties of ceramics and their ballistic performance, it is accepted by the scientific community in the field that hardness, fracture toughness, Young's modulus and flexural/tensile strength must have high values to achieve high ceramic performance. Among the ceramics known and studied, three in particular stand out and are finding widespread use in the field of ballistic protection: boron carbide (B ₄ C), silicon carbide (SiC) and alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ )