Riverdale grad improves U.S. Army body armor

RIVERDALE ALUMNI – Thanks in part to Joshua Pelz, class of 2013, future American soldiers will be better protected in combat by stronger and lighter body armor.

Now a materials science and engineering doctoral candidate at the University of California San Diego, Pelz spent his summer at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, doing innovative work that uses nature as the inspiration for breakthroughs in additive manufacturing.

"My project is to design a system that can 3D print armor ceramics that will allow production of parts with graded structures similar to an abalone structure in nature that will improve the ceramic armor's toughness and survivability with lower weight," Pelz says.

He hopes to use the composite ceramic armor and custom 3D printer he created to develop next-generation armor and also apply it to various other fields. "You could use this same system to produce ceramic implants for, say, a hip replacement or a knee replacement," Pelz says. "You could produce the ball that would be put into that hip joint to actually produce those parts. And so this system gives the ability to produce graded parts — composite ceramic parts — for really any application with any material."

Read the full U.S. Army article at bit.ly/AlumJPelz.

Joshua Pelz demonstrates his work at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Credit: U.S. Army photo by David McNally.