Advanced Alloys
Adept produces specialty steel, titanium, and bismuth alloys on a small-batch basis, often via powder metallurgical techniques. The steel and titanium alloys are optimized for armor use — particularly in applications where a combination of high performance, toughness, long service life, and resistance to harsh environmental conditions is required. The bismuth alloys are intended for use in next-generation ‘green’ projectiles.
Carapace Steel
Carapace is a specially-processed, non-martensitic ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) engineered specifically for armor applications. It features remarkable strain-hardening characteristics, ultra-high tensile strength, surprising ductility, and good formability in its annealed condition. As one of the toughest alloys available anywhere, it is ideal for use in thin laminate armor systems, in standalone sheets for anti-blast and anti-frag applications, and in specialty applications where steel armor with the highest performance-to-weight ratio is required. Indeed, Carapace is highly competitive with fiber composite materials such as aramid and UHMWPE, even on a weight basis.
Adept is presently developing next-gen steel armor from Carapace steel. We also supply it on a wholesale basis to partners in industry, government, and academia.
Titanium
Adept has spent years refining the composition of its armor-grade titanium alloys, and can supply fine-tuned ELI grades of titanium for specialized ballistic applications. The key advantage of our titanium alloys lies in their ability to be formed into complex shapes and deep-drawn parts without risk of fracture or distortion. Titanium alloys also perform extraordinarily well in hybrid armor systems (e.g. titanium+UHMWPE or titanium+steel), due to their unique tendency to fail by forming a thick shear plug. As a standalone material, the best titanium armor grades offer very good ballistic performance — though they are generally slightly inferior to Carapace steel in weight-to-protection ratio. However, whereas Carapace is typically used in very thin sheets, our titanium alloys are employed in thicker sections that are well-suited for structural, load-bearing components.
For more information on titanium armor in general, see our knowledgebase article on titanium alloy armor.
Bismuth
Adept has developed a castable and swageable bismuth alloy intended for use as an eco-friendly replacement for lead in bullet cores and shotgun pellets. This alloy, unlike comparable bismuth alloys already available on the market, is highly ductile and can mushroom rather than shatter upon impacting a soft target, thus delivering better and considerably more reliable terminal ballistic performance. Optimization work with commercial partners is ongoing. Adept can supply samples of this ballistic bismuth alloy to interested parties in industry, government, and academia.
For details or more information, please contact us.
