A dual hardness steel article comprises a first air hardenable steel alloy having a first hardness metallurgically bonded to a second air hardenable steel alloy having a second hardness. A method of manufacturing a dual hard steel article comprises providing a first air hardenable steel alloy part comprising a first mating surface and having a first part hardness, and providing a second air hardenable steel alloy part comprising a second mating surface and having a second part hardness. The first air hardenable steel alloy part is metallurgically secured to the second air hardenable steel alloy part to form a metallurgically secured assembly, and the metallurgically secured assembly is hot rolled to provide a metallurgical bond between the first mating surface and the second mating surface.

A steel armor plate and method of manufacturing is described. The armor plate has three curves, a first curve about an axis that parallels the length of the armor plate, and two additional curves about axes that parallel the width of the armor plate. A die for manufacturing said plate is described, the die being formed of a stack of metal plates, each plate having a curve that substantially matches the first curve, the stack of plates being arranged in a step-down-then-step-up fashion to form a concavity that approximates one of the two additional curves.

A dual-hardness clad steel plate. One surface of the steel plate is a high-hardness layer, the other surface of the steel plate is a low-hardness layer, and a combination of atoms is achieved between the high-hardness layer and the low-hardness layer by rolling bonding, wherein Mn13 steel is adopted for the low-hardness layer, and the Brinell hardness of the high-hardness layer is greater than 600. Further disclosed is a production method of the dual-hardness clad steel plate, comprising: 1) respectively preparing a high-hardness layer slab and a low-hardness layer slab; 2) assembling: preprocessing combined faces of the slabs, carrying out peripheral welded sealing on joint faces of the slabs, and carrying out vacuumizing treatment on a composite slab after welded sealing; 3) heating; 4) carrying out composite rolling; 5) cooling; and 6) carrying out thermal treatment, wherein the heating temperature is 1050-1100 C., the heating time is 2-3 min/mmslab thickness, and water cooling is performed on the heated slab, and the water temperature is lower than 40 C. The steel plate has different hardness characteristics and good low-temperature toughness

There is provided a vehicle for protecting an entity against directed-energy weapons, comprising: a housing; and a shield for absorbing or reflecting a laser beam, the shield, in use, extending in a plane from the housing. There is also provided a system of vehicles and a method of coordinating a plurality of vehicles to protect an entity against directed-energy weapons.

A shield assembly for protection of vehicles traveling in space consisting of at least five layers that would replace the thin metal impact shield in Whipple shields fabricated using the current art that employs only a single metal. All of the layers in the present invention are metallic. At least three different metals must be used in this invention. FIG. 1 shows the basic embodiment of the transparent blast protection assembly. The shield assembly (10) comprises a first metal layer (20), a second metal layer (30), a third metal foam layer (40), a fourth metal layer (50), and a fifth metal layer (60). At least one spacer component (70) is used to create and maintain a space between the structure requiring impact protection (80) and the shield assembly.

A dual hardness steel article comprises a first air hardenable steel alloy having a first hardness metallurgically bonded to a second air hardenable steel alloy having a second hardness. A method of manufacturing a dual hard steel article comprises providing a first air hardenable steel alloy part comprising a first mating surface and having a first part hardness, and providing a second air hardenable steel alloy part comprising a second mating surface and having a second part hardness. The first air hardenable steel alloy part is metallurgically secured to the second air hardenable steel alloy part to form a metallurgically secured assembly, and the metallurgically secured assembly is hot rolled to provide a metallurgical bond between the first mating surface and the second mating surface.

A steel armor plate and method of manufacturing is described. The armor plate has three curves, a first curve about an axis that parallels the length of the armor plate, and two additional curves about axes that parallel the width of the armor plate. A die for manufacturing said plate is described, the die being formed of a stack of metal plates, each plate having a curve that substantially matches the first curve, the stack of plates being arranged in a step-down-then-step-up fashion to form a concavity that approximates one of the two additional curves.

A process for making steel armor products for use, for example as body armor. The steel armor product made has a compound curve and is made from a flat blank of armor steel by high-temperature annealing an armor steel blank to slightly above its austenitizing temperature, then followed by a slow, temperature-controlled cooling it, over-pressing the annealed blank to a first configuration so it springs back to a second configuration approximating the desired product shape when released from the press, and then heat-treating the product back to its austenitizing temperature, quenching it, and tempering it at a low temperature. The tool is conveniently made by lamination, using a series of thin plates of tool steel each cut to produce an approximation of the desired die.

A modular system for protecting a critical asset includes a plurality of vertical members extending vertically upwardly from a ground surface, and inner and outer stacks of spaced-apart horizontal members connected between adjacent pairs of the vertical members defining a vertical wall. The spaced-apart horizontal members have cross sections and spacings such that no line can be drawn through the wall without intersecting with one or both of the inner and outer stacks. The cross sections of the horizontal members in both stacks include elongated angled surfaces such that projectile on a trajectory toward the critical asset is deflected upwardly or downwardly and away from the critical asset. In a preferred embodiment, the horizontal members are angle irons. In a more preferred embodiment the horizontal members are 1/2 90-degree steel angle irons oriented sideways, such that the elongated plates making up the angle irons are 45 degrees off horizontal.

Armor plate having a thickness of at least 3 mm and an edge length of at least 20 mm, wherein the armor plate consists of a material made largely of a component selected from the group hard metal, cermet and/or combinations thereof. An armor plate composite comprising at least two layers of armor plates and an armor are provided as well.