Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Tian Mu was a staff officer in a certain division during the Anti-Japanese War. In that special era, being surrounded was commonplace. When surrounded, they would break out! During one breakout, Tian Mu encountered a Japanese machine gunner. He made a decisive decision and dove into a stable. The enemy's machine gun fire swept over, but all the bullets were stopped by the water-filled horse troughs.

Thanks to those troughs, he was able to witness the founding of New China, and even live to this day.

Now, as they were developing third-generation tanks and trying to improve their protection, he was reminded of that old incident. Israeli tanks had their engines in the front, with fuel tanks and water tanks also placed there. Could it be that this oil and water also enhanced protection?

He proposed this idea, and everyone decided to experiment. At the firing range, they used Red Arrow-73 anti-tank missiles to bombard boxes filled with water. Who would have thought that the boxes exploded even more violently than empty ones?

Therefore, this idea was unrealistic!

At this time, Tian Mu was in low spirits. Chen Guang, a middle-aged engineer, was also somewhat helpless: "Currently, the 681 composite armor we have developed has reached the protection level of the T-72 tank's upper front hull armor. However, our third-generation tank has even higher requirements, and we must have materials with even stronger protection! We have already experienced hundreds of failures."

The 681 composite armor is the first composite armor developed domestically. It uses a 20mm steel faceplate and an 80mm thick steel backplate as the two outer materials, with two layers of 36mm fiberglass and two layers of 68mm corundum interlayer alternating in the middle. This material has already reached the level of the T-72 tank. If it were used on a second-generation tank, it would be good enough, but it's not enough for a third-generation tank!

"Engineer Qin, you have always been known for your bold innovation in our system. Regarding our tank armor, can you provide us with some solutions?" Tian Mu looked at Qin Yang.

These were the expectant eyes of an old military industrial worker. Seeing the other party's dusty face after returning from the test site, Qin Yang couldn't hide anything any longer: "As for solutions, let me think. You are all trying to find solutions from the materials. Have you ever thought about changing the structure?"

Factory 960 needs to develop and grow stronger, and it must diversify its operations. Having only guns, cannons, and ammunition is not enough. Qin Yang is also planning to launch an armor project, but unfortunately, the factory's foundation is limited, and it cannot spread out such a large operation.

He originally planned to get involved later, but now, with these pairs of military industrial workers' eyes looking at Qin Yang, how could he let everyone continue to explore blindly because of his own selfish motives? He had to point out the correct direction for everyone!

"We stack various non-metallic materials alternately, isn't that a change in structure? How else can it be changed?" Chen Guang asked curiously.

Composite armor sounds high-end, but the principle is actually very simple: stacking various different materials together, thereby greatly improving the protection ability and reducing the weight of the armor, which is a big step ahead of all-steel structure armor.

Isn't that how composite armor is made? What other structures can there be?

"That's right, we still have to find solutions in the materials. Chobham armor in the UK uses ceramic materials, and we also have to find suitable ceramic materials to manufacture!" A technician said.

"Comrade, what is Chobham armor?" Qin Yang looked at the young technician he had never met before: "Can you introduce it to me?"

This person looked at Old Zhu.

"Wang Ming, please introduce it to Engineer Qin." Old Zhu began to call names.

"Okay, Chobham armor is a masterpiece of the British. Ceramic tiles are added between the faceplate and backplate, and these ceramic tiles are embedded in it like building a wall." Wang Ming also studied armor and was very familiar with it.

"Embedded? How are they embedded?" Qin Yang asked.

This stumped Wang Ming.

"Why aren't these ceramic tiles made into a single piece?"

"I guess it's impossible to directly fire a whole piece."

"Everyone, let's use our brains and think about it. I think there are many tricks in it." Qin Yang said: "The Chobham armor announced by the British is just a few words in The Times. Later, the old Maozi's newspapers analyzed it, but they didn't say anything specific. We still have to use our own brains."

"Engineer Qin, do you know?" Wang Ming was a little aggrieved. Since you know, why did you ask me?

"The structure, materials, and performance of armor are top secrets of various countries, and they will definitely not be easily leaked. The armor materials for export tanks and self-use tanks are also different, so we do need to analyze it." Old Zhu said: "Let me mention one point first. The British did not make the ceramics into a whole piece, presumably considering the problem that ceramics are easily broken. If it is a whole piece, it may be completely broken after an attack. Making it into pieces, the other ceramics are still intact."

The characteristics of ceramic materials are high hardness and low toughness. Just look at the rice bowl, it is very hard, but it breaks when dropped.

"Old Zhu is right!" Chen Guang nodded.

"I think, in the question raised by Engineer Qin, how to embed it is a big problem." Tian Mu said, he already had some ideas at this time, but he hadn't figured everything out yet.

"Engineer Qin, tell everyone your thoughts, don't keep us in suspense." Old Zhu said.

"I just thought of it. If I were to do it, I would use aluminum alloy to make a honeycomb-shaped interlayer inside the two layers of steel plates, and put the ceramic tiles in it piece by piece." Qin Yang said: "This will solve the problem of embedding ceramic tiles."

This is the biggest change in structure!

Ordinary composite armor is to stack and combine various different materials layer by layer, while Chobham armor is to use aluminum alloy to separate a small frame inside the armor plate, which is equivalent to constraining and fixing the ceramic tiles. Therefore, in later generations' classifications, the former is called unconstrained armor, and the latter is called constrained armor.

A word awakened the dreamer, and everyone's eyes lit up.

"That's right, Engineer Qin is right! This design is indeed a change in structure!" Tian Mu said: "The British hid this most important structure when they publicized it to the outside world!"

Engineer Qin is famous in the military industry, and his ideas are different from others, and he repeatedly puts forward completely new design concepts!

"Everyone, I haven't finished yet. If I were to do it, I would fill a layer of rubber between the ceramic tiles and the aluminum alloy frame."

This rubber is a more important expansion reaction layer. Even if the constrained structure of Chobham armor is declassified, this expansion reaction layer continues to be concealed!

"Use rubber to cushion it?" Old Zhu also nodded with emotion: "That's right, combining hardness and softness may achieve better protection. I think we can try it!"

Qin Yang didn't reveal this point completely. After all, how can you know the real mechanism without experimentation? This constrained armor can improve protection, but it's not just about combining hardness and softness. The most important thing is to separate a large number of fragments during the anti-attack process to perform a short but very violent cutting or blocking action on the penetrator in the constraint channel, thereby destroying the intruding projectile core or jet to achieve the purpose of protection!

Structure diagram, the expansion reaction layer in the novel is between B and D