Glassy Metal Body Armor

Abstract

A stab resistant body armor and method of forming such component, wherein the component includes plurality of iron based glassy metal sheets, wherein the iron based glassy metal sheets comprise an iron based glass metal alloy including iron present in the range of 45 atomic percent to 71 atomic percent, nickel present in the range of 4 atomic percent to 17.5 atomic percent, boron present in the range of 11 atomic percent to 16 atomic percent, silicon present in the range of 0.3 atomic percent to 4.0 atomic percent and optionally chromium present in the range of 0.1 atomic percent to 19 atomic percent, and the alloy includes spinodal glass matrix microconstituent structures including one or both of a) semicrystalline phases and b) crystalline phases in a glass matrix.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A stab resistant body armor component, comprising:
 a plurality of iron based glassy metal sheets, wherein said iron based glassy metal sheets comprise an iron based glassy metal alloy including iron present in the range of 45 atomic percent to 71 atomic percent, nickel present in the range of 4 atomic percent to 17.5 atomic percent, boron present in the range of 11 atomic percent to 16 atomic percent, silicon present in the range of 0.3 atomic percent to 4.0 atomic percent and optionally chromium present in the range of 0.1 atomic percent to 19 atomic percent, and said alloy includes spinodal glass matrix microconstituent structures including one or both of a) semicrystalline phases and b) crystalline phases in a glass matrix.   
     
     
         2 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of iron based glassy metal sheets, in combination with a polymeric material outer layer, exhibit resistance to Level 3 NIJ standard 0115.00 spike, single edge and double edge attacks. 
     
     
         3 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said component exhibits an areal weight of 0.5 lb/ft 2  to 2.0 lb/ft 2 . 
     
     
         4 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said spinodal glass matrix microconstituent structures are present in the range of 5% to 95% by volume. 
     
     
         5 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said semicrystalline or crystalline phases are in the range of 1 to 200 nm in size. 
     
     
         6 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glass metal alloy has a density in the range of 7.40 g/cm 3  to 7.80 g/cm 3 . 
     
     
         7 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glass metal alloy exhibits a glass to crystalline transformation temperature in the range of approximately 396° C. to 713° C., including all values and ranges therein, when measured by differential thermal analysis (DTA) or differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at a heating rate of 10° C./minute. 
     
     
         8 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glass metal alloy exhibits an ultimate tensile strength in the range of 0.4 GPa to 3.90 GPa and a total elongation in the range of 0.4% to 5.5%, when tested at a strain rate of 0.001 s −1 . 
     
     
         9 . The component  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glass metal alloy exhibits a Vickers hardness of 900 to 950 using a diamond pyramid indenter with a 50 gram load. 
     
     
         10 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glassy alloy sheets comprises foils each having a thickness in the range of 0.0005 inches to 0.0020 inches. 
     
     
         11 . The component of  claim 1 , wherein said iron based glassy alloy sheets comprise fibers of said iron based glass metal alloy woven into a fabric. 
     
     
         12 . The component of  claim 11 , further comprising one or more non-glassy metal fibers selected from the group consisting of: polymeric fibers, natural fibers and inorganic fibers, wherein said non-glassy metal fibers are interwoven with said iron based glass metal alloy fibers. 
     
     
         13 . The component of  claim 12 , wherein said non-glassy metal fibers are present in the range of 5% by weight to 95% by weight. 
     
     
         14 . The component of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more polymeric layers. 
     
     
         15 . The component of  claim 14 , wherein said polymer layers are alternated with said iron based glassy metal sheets at a ratio of in the range of 10:1 to 1:10. 
     
     
         16 . The component of  claim 1 , further comprising a ballistic material disposed adjacent to said iron based glassy metal sheets. 
     
     
         17 . The component of  claim 1 , further comprising a cover disposed around at least a portion of said iron based glassy metal sheets. 
     
     
         18 . A method of forming a stab resistant body armor component, comprising:
 forming a plurality of iron based glassy metal sheets, wherein said iron based glassy metal sheets comprise iron based glass metal alloys including iron present in the range of 45 atomic percent to 71 atomic percent, nickel present in the range of 4 atomic percent to 17.5 atomic percent, boron present in the range of 11 atomic percent to 16 atomic percent, silicon present in the range of 0.3 atomic percent to 4.0 atomic percent and optionally chromium present in the range of 0.1 atomic percent to 19 atomic percent, and said alloy includes spinodal glass matrix microconstituent structures including one or both of a) semicrystalline phases and b) crystalline phases in a glass matrix; and   arranging said plurality of iron based glassy metal sheets into a stack.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein forming said plurality of iron based glass metal sheets comprises forming foils. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein forming said plurality of iron based glass metal sheets comprises forming said iron based glass metal alloys into fibers and forming said fibers into a fabric. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said fabric further comprises non-glassy metal fibers. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising alternating said iron based glassy metal sheets with one or more polymeric layers. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising disposing said stack of iron based glassy metal sheets adjacent to a ballistic material.