The 27th Annual Conference of the CAST— Forum on Latest Progress and Applications of Ballistic & Blast-Resistant Composites was successfully held on July 2, 2025, at China Hall of Science and Technology in Beijing. 

The event was hosted  by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), organized by the China Composites Society, and co-organized by Centre for Fire Safety Materials of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing Protech New Materials Science Co., Ltd., and Jiangnan University.The forum brought together nearly 60 experts, scholars, and industry representatives from universities, research institutes, and enterprises to discuss cutting-edge developments in ballistic and blast-resistant composite materials. He Junke, secretary of the Party Leadership Group, executive vice president and first secretary of the secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Feng Shenhong, deputy secretary of the CAST Party Leadership Group and professor Ye Jinrui, secretary-general of the China Composites Society, attended the forum.

Dr. Johnny Zhou from Beijing Protech New Material Science Co., Ltd. was appointed as a member of the forum's Academic Committee and served as the host of the event. During the forum, Dr. Johnny Zhou made a keynote report titled "Structural Design and Penetration Analysis of Lightweight Ceramic-UHMWPE Backing Plate Composite Armor Against Multi-Strikes of Armor-Piercing Projectiles" The report focused on the effects of ceramic/backing plate mass ratio, ceramic unit size, and wrapped constraints to ceramic panels on the ballistic performance of composite armor. Analysis of multi-scale damage patterns on post-impact of ceramics and backing plates revealed the progressive response process and synergistic protection mechanism between the two layers, which provided theoretical guidance for the structural design of lightweight ceramic composite armor resistant to multi-strikes.

The forum reserved discussion sessions for several non-consensus topics in the field including structural optimization and engineering applications of ceramic composite armor, breathability and thermal dissipation challenges for ballistic composites, performance limitations of foundational materials, chokepoint issues about raw materials and manufacturing processes. Experts engaged in vigorous debates contributing diverse perspectives that generated innovative approaches to overcome current technological bottlenecks in the industry.

This thematic forum brought leading scholars and corporate representatives together from the ballistic and blast-resistant field in China. Through keynote speeches and discussions, it fully demonstrated the potential of deep industry-academia-research integration. The fruitful outcomes achieved will undoubtedly inject new momentum into the industry's development and promote it to higher levels.