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Re:Primer: Statistical Armour by jacobn on Friday April 15, 2022 @08:06PM (#31047555)
I'm wondering why tank armor is (appears to be) basically flat, when the AT warheads appear to be based on creating that super-heated jet, optimized for striking a flat surface?

Why not stack a few layers of corrugated steel/ceramic plates to try to split the jet apart?

Basic theory would be to present the projectile with a surface that has drastically different amounts of resistance across the front of the projectile, in the hope of destabilizing it & the jet it creates.

I guess it would make the armor quite thick, but with varying density/composition it may not end up that much heavier?

(And maybe it just wouldn't work ;)

Re:Primer: Statistical Armour by jiggawatts on Friday April 15, 2022 @08:15PM (#31047617)
You basically invented composite armour, which is a thing already, and actually somewhat outdated.

The problem is that at such high velocities, during the impact everything acts like a fluid. Tensile strength and shape is almost irrelevant. You can think of the atoms in the armour not as a solid but as individual particles just hanging in space. Their mass — and hence inertia — is more important than anything else!

Modern armour design is about trying to have moving components that present “fresh” volume/mass to increase the effective thickness. Either via rubber layers that can distort, moving steel plates, or explosive reactive armour that do the same thing but faster.

Re:Primer: Statistical Armour by chipsa on Saturday April 16, 2022 @04:01PM (#31055618)
Not super heated jet. It's still roughly room temperature. It's being moved fast enough that it acts like a fluid more than a solid.