Directorate Officer
Image Source: My photobucket
Intent: Provide a fleshed out composite armor material for use by Lucerne Labs & its allies
Development Thread: To Afford such Vilipend Material
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Chimera Composite
Affiliation: Lucerne Labs, Closed Market
Modularity: None
Production: Minor
Material: Trimantium (40%), Colossus Wasp Chitin(25%), Ivrooy-Yorik hybrid coral (25%), Corellian Epoxy (10%)
Strengths:
Thermal Resistance: Chimera's uses the high thermal conductivity of its chitin and coral components and utilizes the natural thermal anisotropic properties to channel incoming heat to quickly spread out across the material to act like a radiator. Many times, the organic elements can be used to channel this heat to heatsinks for disposal. Combined with these low thermal expansion of these same components, Chimera is fairly resistant to breakdown by classic energy weapons like blasters and turbolasers.
Kinetic Penetration Resistance: Chimera takes a two-pronged approach to protecting against incoming projectiles. The chitin-coral-epoxy compound is fairly hard, but would generally give way under especially hard impacts from shear stress. However, this compound material is held in place by a macro matrix of trimantium, a material known for its high tensile strength. Conceptually, the trimantium matrix can be viewed as a net which disperses the strain across a wide area. This means that this armor is generally quite effective against kinetic attacks that rely more on velocity than mass to damage, though it is just as easily defeated by many slow-moving projectiles as other armors.
Weaknesses:
Delamination: Applying repeated area of effect stress to Chimera, such as from being a hit by a concussion missile or being sprayed by a low-caliber submachine gun, causes the layers to begin separate because of internal harmonic vibrations. Once this happens, Chimera composite tends to physically fall apart faster than traditional metal armors.
Anisotropic: Most metals are isotropic, meaning that resist deformation from all angles equally. However, Chimera composite's organic element is anisoptropic, meaning that it is particularly weak from certain sides, much like wood. This means that it has a direction where it unusually weak to resisting deformation compared to traditional metal counterparts. To visual this, using the classic Cartesian plane system, the X & Z axes might have normal strength, but the Y-axis would be substantially weaker than normal materials.
Description: Chimera Composite is a variant of matrix armor that uses a macro metal matrix of trimantium and combines it with a ceramic-like compound derived from Colossus Wasp chitin, Yorik-Ivrooy coral exoskeletons, and Corellian Epoxy. The resulting metal matrix composite is similar to Ferroceramic in concept and use, but notably includes the use of organically grown materials to lower production costs and somewhat alter its base properties of the ceramic element. Like many other metal matrix composites, Chimera Composite is designed to combine the structural strength of metals with the heat dissipation properties of ceramics to provide protection against explosive, kinetic, and thermal weapons.
Production Process:
The most dominant material in Chimera Composite, Trimantium, is acquired through typical material acquisition channels such as mining and refining concerns as well as trade consortiums such as the Mining Guild. The other main two components, Colossus Wasp chitin and Ivrooy-Yorik Coral, are provided by Lucerne Labs and Lucerne Biological Systems.
Through obtaining a juvenile colossus wasp in the Ithull system, Lucerne Biological Systems was able to start artificially introduced populations of the colossus wasp to the Oort belt of the Hast system. Here, the wasps subsist and grow on a steady diet of interstellar radiation and minerals found in the asteroids. Wasp clades are then harvested as their individuals near maturity. After being carved off the carcass by plasma cutters, the chitin is slowly heated to a semi-liquid state to loosen its fibers in preparation for their use in the composite.
While proven Yorik coral was originally slated to be an ingredient in the design, it was found that the Vong technology used to grow it would not be easily duplicated. Consequently the lurrian scientists under Wern spliced genes from that coral species and introduced them into an Ivrooy coral, a well understood and commercially mass cultivated coral. After some trial and error, this hybrid coral was introduced into the shallow seas of Hast and Gessbrilbak. When harvested, this material is typically ground up for ease of transport and in preparation for use in the composite.
In the processing facilities, the ground coral, liquefied chitin, and Corellian epoxy are mixed into a low-heat slurry, which is then poured over a matrix of trimantium. As the chitin-coral slurry begins to set, weak electromagnetic fields align the tangled fibers of the chitin to produce discontinuous tensile reinforcement throughout the ceramic-like areas of the composite. This process also helps the chitinase fibers to act as a binding agent to the trimantium framework in addition to the Corellian epoxy. Once the fibers are tentatively set, tensor fields are used to press the materials firmly together as they solidify and cool down.
Material Performance:
The combination of several materials originally suited for defense against specific threats, such as trimantium for penetration or the ceramic-like chitin-coral composite for thermal weapons, provides Chimera composite with some basic measure of protection against such threats. But when combined together as a matrix, they provide some other complementary properties to each other against certain damage types.
Against near hits by explosions, the nonmetallic portions conduct much of the heat to spread out through the armor to dedicated heatsinks, while the high tensile strength of trimantium holds the material together against shockwaves and impacts from nearby shrapnel. Against physical weapons, the ceramic element typically is hard enough to partially wear down or shatter the projectile, while the trimantium and fibers of the chitin provide an expansive net to disperse the impact of the projectile across a wide area of space. Against classic turbolasers and other thermal weapons, the ceramic portion absorbs the heat and conducts it to heat sinks and radiators for disposal. This does not make Chimera invulnerable to such weapons, as the material can only absorb so much heat at a time, while the heat exchange systems can only get rid of so much excess heat at a time.
Material Use
As a form of matrix armor, Chimera Composite is used as an material for everything from personal armors to starship hulls. On a personal armor scale, it generally is compared to armorplast, though it notably trades the ability to deflect blaster bolts for improved ballistic protection. While noticeably lighter than matrix armor, most armors built with Chimera tend to be on the heavier side. As a starship and vehicle armoring material, Chimera generally has a noticeable edge compared to typical matrix armor, though it still falls short of many exotic materials such as phrik or beskar. Because of its anisotrophic flaw, Chimera Composite is typically used in conjunction with other materials, especially in armoring structural components.
Primary Source: Rough overview of Metal Matrix Composites & Space Travel
(OOC note: I half expect a request for "quality ratings" as a potential personal armor material. I'm not entirely sure where to start with this, so I'm open to suggestions as to where this should be if this is needed.)
