The protection of security/military personnel and their structural facilities such as vehicles, aircraft and other security hardware continues to attract research attention as trade-off between weight and protection lingers. Ceramics are employed in lightweight armour system for its ballistic efficiency and weight advantage; meanwhile, it is comparatively expensive. This research examined the effectiveness of sintered alumina, developed from corundum, as a laminate component of ceramic-steel composite for structural armour applications. Both armour steel and medium carbon steel were separately impacted by 7.62 × 51 mm armour-piercing (AP) projectile before laminated with the prepared sintered ceramic in evaluating its ballistic resistance. The mechanical properties of the sintered ceramic compete favourably with the commercial CoorsTEK^® sintered ceramics. Subsequently, varying target configurations of the ceramic and medium carbon steel composites were studied and analyzed against the same projectile in accordance with NIJ Standard-0108.01. The composite structure, depending on the configuration, displays different forms of failure modes. The high-impact experimental study confirmed the protective capability of the sintered ceramic by its severity interaction against projectile and delay of projectile penetration when used as a laminate component plate.

Keywords: Armour, Alumina ceramics, Ammunition, Composite, Corundum