Library
Manufacturer-neutral reference content for body armor procurement professionals. New briefs published automatically when regulatory monitoring agents detect a material change.
Ceramic strike-face manufacturing — pressing, sintering, tile array vs monolithic — is more expensive and finicky than the chemistry of the ceramic itself suggests. This guide covers the two dominant production paths, why boron carbide is still expensive, and what the ceramic suppliers (3M, Morgan, CoorsTek) actually do differently.
The body-armor industry rests on a thin, globally consolidated supply chain — a handful of fiber producers (DuPont Kevlar, Avient Dyneema, Honeywell Spectra), ceramic suppliers (Morgan, CoorsTek), and prepreg makers. This guide maps the upstream supply chain that determines what every OEM can actually build.
Hard armor plates use ceramic strike faces to fracture bullets before they reach the fiber catch layer. Three ceramic families dominate — alumina, silicon carbide, and boron carbide. This guide covers weight, cost, and performance tradeoffs and the suppliers behind each.