Wood‐based SiSiC ceramics with isotropic mechanical behavior were produced from commercial wood‐based composites (e.g., fiber boards). Properties can be tuned by the compression of the starting material, and by the content of added phenolic resin, which influences pore density and the amount of SiC infiltrated. In turn, the abundance of SiC versus residual silicon and carbon in the product determines its mechanical strength.

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Lightweight ceramic armour systems offer high ballistic protection combined with a significantly lower areal weight than conventional armour systems on the basis of steel or aluminum. Biomorphic SiSiC-ceramics, based on wooden preforms and manufactured via the liquid silicon infiltration (LSI), are considered promising new armour materials due to their high potential for the manufacture of complex shaped structures at low costs.The physical properties of different, biomorphic SiSiC-materials were determined. The ballistic performance was studied on sample plates 100 rnm x 100 mm with armour piercing ammunition (7.62 x 51 mm AP). The results were compared to the ballistic performance of commercially available alumina tiles, namely ALOTEC 96SB and 99SB, which were tested under the same conditions. In this paper, the manufacturing process of biomorphic SiSiCmaterials, the material properties and the results of the impact tests are presented.

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