A new armor alloy that offers excellent survivability and protection for the Defense market has been introduced by Alcoa, one of the world’s leading producers of primary and fabricated aluminum and a miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina, at the annual AUSA event. The alloy features the lightweight benefits of aluminum.
ArmX alloy is a result of Alcoa’s expertise for over 120 years to develop a product that integrates reduced weight with strength and toughness for armor applications. The company has developed the alloy using its proprietary casting technologies with a unique metal chemistry that makes certain that consistent properties course through the material, even in substantial sections. The use of ArmX armor alloy solution ranges from the bolt- on patterned solutions to vehicle hatches.
The alloy will be manufactured at Alcoa’s facilities in Cleveland, Ohio and Davenport, Iowa. Alcoa Defense’s clients can now have immediate access to the complete ArmX offering in large plate and forged ranges that enable them to produce efficient designs for protecting soldiers from harm.
Director of Marketing and Sales for Forgings business, Fred Latrash stated that forged products using ArmX provide freedom in design that is important to cost-efficiency and success and they enable creation of monolithic shapes for blast shields, hulls and doors. Alcoa is working on additional applications of the new armor alloy.