Ceramite.

Ceramite is a ceramic product used extensively in the manufacturing of high-end armours. It has two main features that make it useful in this role, it is incredibly hard and has an exceptionally high melting point.

Before we discuss its virtues in armour it is useful to know a little about the manufacturing process. Ceramite starts as a powdered mixture of Carbides, Fullerites and Silicates, doped with a selection of rare heavy metals, the exact recipe is a closely guarded secret known only to the Adeptus Mechanicus and a few Tech-Marines who have served under them. These molecules are then heated slowly (often over a period of several days) to a temperature of over a million degrees using very high powered Melta beams. Under this incredible heat the powder is then poured into molds and subjected to intense pressures (several thousand atmospheres) which cause the powders to melt and form a very dense fluid (due to the chemical bonding of the components the fluid is much denser than the powdered components). The high pressure is maintained and the molded product is allowed to cool very slowly, the time period ranging from around a week for pieces with no internal dimension of over 10cm to several months for thicker items.

At the high temperatures and pressures in the molding process the Ceramite powders form a liquid that, as it cools, adopts a macro-crystal formation. The slow cooling allows the maximum number of internal bonds, creating a very tight crystal formation with incredible density (around 12g per cubic cm, similar to that of Palladium). The process for making Ceramite requires the application of high pressures and temperatures over an extended time period making it a very costly process. As a result only users who require the exceptional protection offered by ceramite (such as the Inqusition and forces of the Adeptus Astartes) regularly use it.

Now we understand the manufacturing process we can better discuss Ceramite’s use in armour.

Firstly we shall look at its principal feature, its hardness. Many citizens associate Ceramite with heat shielding, which is its secondary feature, but its hardness is its main virtue. Incoming kinetic attacks, when hitting Ceramite, normally shatter, thus dissipating their energy harmlessly. Softer materials used in piercing rounds, such as depleted Uranium, do not have the internal strength to penetrate Ceramite and will often fully deform into a plate. The only kinetic rounds that offer any chance of defeating ceramite are the high velocity adamantium rounds used in the Autocannons and Bolt weapons. It is a convenient guide (though not precise) to say that a sheet of Ceramite will stop an Autocannon round with the same calibre as the sheets thickness – evidence from Marines Power Armour has shown that the 50mm sheet of Ceramite used in the shoulder guard (one of the thickest sheets on Mk7 Armour) will stand up to a direct hit from a 50mm Autocannon round almost 70% of the time. Against conventional close combat attacks Ceramite proves to be an almost unbeatable defence – the force required to crack a plate is far more than that required to break most weapon blades or hafts. Chain weapons are especially useless, the teeth, themselves often made from ceramite, are far weaker than the armour and generally just strip the paint from the surface. Adamantium weapons can prove a problem but even adamantium chain weapons lack the power to cut through even a thin Ceramite plate, either the motor, the bearings or the chain will prove to be weaker than the Ceramite or the teeth. Power Weapons have proven to be one of the few effective ways to bypass Ceramite in a kinetic attack but the density of ceramite proves to be one of the few effective defences against the Disruption Field. Massive concussive force or pressure can also crack Ceramite so care must be taken against attacks of these types (especially Thunder Hammers) but the energy required is massive, it would take a human of incredible physique to wield a hammer large enough to threaten an Adeptus Asartes and the speed of the attack would be very slow indeed in comparison to the Marine.

The very high melting point of Ceramite offers the users excellent protection against thermal and laser weapons. Lasers, normally able to melt through armour, if not in one hit, through cumulative hits, prove very ineffective due to the thermal properties of Ceramite. Flamers have little affect as the Ceramite insulates the user from the heat and plasma weapons are near useless against Ceramite (though they are still dangerous due to the chances of plasma splash hitting not Ceramite surfaces). Melta Weapons, normally the bane of heavy armour, have their power drastically reduced. Normally they super-excited Melta particles find it very easy to bond with the targets own molecules and transfer their energy but with Ceramite the structure and density of the material causes a high percentage of the particles to rebound. It should be noted that a 50mm Ceramite plate will deflect approximately 80% of Melta particles from a standard issue infantry meltagun at ranges of around 20m. This is still enough to be fatal if the remaining particles strike some vital organ but if the particles were, for example, to strike a limb then there is little chance for spontaneous flash boiling and thus a fatal overpressure explosions.

Very high energy attacks, or repeated attacks on a small area, can cause Ceramite to fail. The energy of the attack can eventually be enough to melt the Ceramite which will then cool to quickly and revert back to its powdered form, rendering it useless as armour. There is a positive side to this though, rather than punching a whole through the armour the Ceramite will absorb the energy and start to radiate it away from the hit, causing the damage to be spread over a wider area. On armoured vehicles where Ceramite Sheets often exceed 100mm in thickness, this can be enough to prevent even a direct Las Cannon hit penetrating the armour. The tell-tale sign of a high energy laser hit on a thick Ceramite sheet is a near perfect conical hole in the armour with a radius equal to its depth.

When Ceramite fails, either through penetration by energy weapons or kinetic impacts, it will do so in one of 3 ways. Either a chip will be taken out of the armour (severely damaged Ceramite shows signs of damage similar to ‘Onion Skin Weathering), a hole will be burnt into the armour or, in the worst cases, the plate will fail catastrophically and split entirely in two. There are several things that the user can do. Ideally the whole plate should be replaced, though due to the costs and time needed this may not be possible. If the chip can be replaces or the split Ceramite fits neatly together they can be bonded together using liquid iron glue. Finally, to replace missing chips an synthetic resin can be used as a temporary measure. It has very weak performance compared to Ceramite but it will offer some reinforcing as a temporary measure.

Due to the difficulty in replacing ceramite sheets of any significant size many armours now use smaller ceramite plates embedded in a larger sheet of ArmourPlas. Multiple, overlapping hexagonal plates have proven to be the most effective design and offer excellent protecting with easy maintenance.