Modern ceramic armor works by shattering on impact, absorbing a great deal of energy. Modern tank ammunition works by shearing in the direction of the attack, preserving the kinetic energy in a smaller area of attack.

It occurs to Voice that the ceramic shatter effect can be further strengthened by shaping ceramic armor in layers. Instead of a single plate, hundreds of much thinner plates would be used. The idea is that as an incoming round shears to allow part of it to continue into the armor, the armor will deform to press the splinters away at an angle. This way an attack at a 90 degree angle effectively becomes an attack at a 50 degree angle.
-- Voice, Jan 27 2016

A good song for a tank-patching robot to sing https://www.youtube...watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI
[Voice, Nov 25 2016]

This idea is NOT the well-known composite, multilayered armor. It's shaping of the ceramic layers.
-- Voice, Jan 27 2016


If the inside-most armor layer is painted red and successive layers painted in shades of orange, yellow, green, and blue with the outer layer violet, a crew can know how close their tank is to defeat by looking at the color.
-- whatrock, Jan 28 2016


Nothing to do with love then!
-- po, Jan 28 2016


Wouldn't having lots of thin armour plates make the vehicle more vulnerable to the cumulative effect of, say, heavy machine-gun fire?
-- DrBob, Jan 28 2016


Yes!
-- po, Jan 28 2016


I PICTURE a small robot with magnetic shoes and a newspaper bag full of ceramic post it notes scrambling all over the outside of a tank trying to patch the pock marks and avoid being shot. What would be a good song to sing while slapping down post it notes ?
-- popbottle, Jan 29 2016


Titanium.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 29 2016


The deepest card should have the picture of a joker on it.

As for songs, perhaps ''Luck Be a Lady,' 'The Gambler,' or 'Queen of Hearts?'
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 29 2016


Hopefully not Stayin' Alive.
-- whatrock, Jan 30 2016


Hey that gives me an idea.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 30 2016


//Wouldn't having lots of thin armour plates make the vehicle more vulnerable to the cumulative effect of, say, heavy machine-gun fire?//

You'd have a threshold below which the "scales" (probably a better thing to call these) would stay in place.

Of course any active armor is going to have this problem.
-- doctorremulac3, Jan 31 2016


Having vehicle armour isn't about being impervious to sustained enemy fire - that's a rediculous aim. The role of armour is to give you enough time to counterattack.

Even a heavy machine gun can essentially disable a modern main battle tank. Enough sustained fire would eventually destroy external fittings to the point that it would be rendered useless, certainly blind, immobile and without power. Hell, sustained fire by AP ammo will eventually abblate it's way through any armour you choose to design - given enough ammo and barrels..
-- Custardguts, Jan 31 2016


//rediculous

Someone does some diculous*, and then does it again?

Hmm, this could be used battlefield seers*. One tank goes out, when it comes back the tarot cards which have not been shot off are examined and so on.

* I was going to write something, but couldn't be bothered.
-- not_morrison_rm, Feb 02 2016


I like the multicolored aspect of this. Tanks are so freaking plain. It would be a good idea for football players too. The pad could ablate over the course of a game so you could colometrically gauge what sort of abuse a given player was absorbing.
-- bungston, Feb 14 2016


That's an interesting idea in it's own, [bungston]. Especially with the latest focus on concussions. You know how you can apply shock-indicator devices to packages you're shipping? Those should be part of the football players armor.

"Oh, and what a hit that was! It looks as though he's going to get up - wait a minute, oh no, both his pads and helmet are changing color, in a minute we'll see how bad this is folks ..."
-- normzone, Nov 26 2016


If the armour was made of piezo-electric materials, a good hit could literally make sparks fly ...
-- 8th of 7, Nov 26 2016


Yes. If there's anything I want next to my battle-damaged machine filled with high explosives and fuel, it's sparks.
-- Voice, Nov 26 2016


Clarification: football players armour.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 26 2016


Well, as long as it's not amor.
-- normzone, Nov 27 2016


/not amor/ That could come in many colors too. Or splendors.
-- bungston, Nov 27 2016



random, halfbakery