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Old 04-16-2020, 12:35 PM   #6
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Plate armor thicknesses

Pyramid #3/52's armor design article may be of use here, as might the follow-up article from Pyramid #3/85. Cheap iron is DR 52/inch, good iron is DR 68/inch, good steel (and RHA) is DR 70/inch, ~TL4 hardened steel is DR 81/inch (but can't be made very thick until ~TL6), and TL 8 ultra-strength steel is DR 116/inch. That's all armor steel, of course. Mild steel isn't on the list; a quick bit of Googling indicates it has ~80% of the protective value of RHA; assuming this works out to 80% of the DR, that's DR 56/inch (assuming the same density; RHA is apparently a bit denser than mild steel, but I can't find a density value for it with a quick search), only a bit better than cheap iron, and probably a W (if using the articles for armor design) of 0.725. Armor used on film sets and the like I think is often made of aluminum alloy (to reduce weight), which is only around DR 35/inch for armor-grade alloys.

The above should give you some decent ballparks. For example, 16-gauge (1/16") plate armor would give DR 2.2 if made of aluminum alloy, DR 3.5 if made of mild steel, DR 4.4 if made of RHA, DR 5 if made of TL 6 hardened steel, or DR 7.25 if made of TL 8 ultra-strength steel.
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