These proceedings contain current research from industry, academia and government organizations, working on opaque and transparent ceramic armor. Papers on novel materials concepts for both vehicle and body armors are included, as well as papers that explore the relationship between computational modeling and property testing.

These papers were presented at the Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, January 22-27, 2006, Cocoa Beach, Florida. Organized and sponsored by The American Ceramic Society and The American Ceramic Society's Engineering Ceramics Division in conjunction with the Nuclear and Environmental Technology Division.
About the Author: Andrew A. Wereszczak received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Delaware in 1992, and while his research is varied, the study and interpretation of the relationship between mechanical properties and microstructure (of monolithic ceramics, structural materials, and electronic materials) are common denominators. Micromechanical characterization of structural and armor ceramics using instrumented static and dynamic indentation (e.g., Hertzian) with acoustic emission analysis, and adapting those measured performances and damage mechanism analyses to strength, rolling contact fatigue, wear, machining, and ballistic performances is a primary objective.
Additionally, ceramic strength and fatigue testing, ceramic fractographical and flaw population analyses, Weibull analysis strength-size-scaling, and probabilistic life prediction and design of structural ceramic components constitutive another primary research objective. In support of all these efforts, both conventional and microstructural-level finite element stress analyses and microstructure characterization are performed. He is the author or co-author of over 100 technical publications and has given over 80 presentations, and is the co-developer of µ-FEA software.

Edgar Lara-Curzio is a Distinguished Research Staff Member and the leader of the Mechanical Properties and Mechanics Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Since 1999 he has been serving as leader of the Mechanical Characterization and Analysis User Center in ORNL's High Temperature Materials Laboratory. Lara-Curzio received a B.Sc. degree in Engineering Physics from the Metropolitan University in Mexico City in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, in 1992.
His research work has been focused on studying the mechanical behavior, durability and reliability of structural and functional materials, on understanding the relationships among their processing, microstructure and properties, studying the effect of service environment on their properties and on developing models to describe their behavior and to predict their service life.
Dr. Lara-Curzio has co-edited 6 books and has authored 4 book chapters and more than 140 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.