Jubin seramik mempunyai masaalah "keupayaan hentaman berganda" di mana ia tidak mampu menahan hantaman bertalu tanpa kehilangan nilai perlindungannya dengan pantas.[1] Untuk mengurangkan kesan ini jubin dihasilkan sekecil mungkin, tetapi unsur matrix mempunyai ketebalan minima pratikal sekitar satu inci / 25 mm. dan nisbah perlindungan diberikan jubin akan menjadi tidak diingini, meletakkan had pada diameter sekitar sepuluh sentimeter. Jubin kecil segi empat atau hexagon dikelilingi matris samaada melalui tekanan secara isostatik kedalam matrix yang dipanaskan,[2] atau dengan mengamkannya menggunakan resin epoxy. Sejak awal sembilan puluhan ia telah diketahui bahawa meletakkan jubin dibawah tekanan sekata oleh matricnya meningkatkan ketahanan kepada perobek kinetik dengan banyak, yang sukar dicapai apabila menggunakan gam.[3]

Matrix perlu dilapis dengan kepingan, bagi memperkukuhkan jubin seramik di belakang dan menghalang matrix logam reyuk oleh hentaman kinetik. Biasanya kepingan pelapis adalah separuh dari jisim matrix sebatian.[4] Pemasangan ini kemudian dipasang pada lapisan anjal. Ini menyerap sebahagian hentaman, tetapi fungsi utamanya adalah bagi meningkatkan hayat perkhidmatan matrix dengan melindungnya dari getaran. Beberapa pemasangan boleh ditindan, bergantung kepada ruang yang ada; dengan ini perisai boleh dibentuk secara modular, boleh disesuaikan dengan keadaan. Ketebalan pemasangan biasa masa kini adalah antara lima dan enam sentimeter.

The armour configuration of the first western tanks using Chobham armour was optimised to defeat shaped charges as guided missiles were seen as the greatest threat. In the eighties however they began to face improved Soviet kinetic energy penetrator rounds of various sorts, which the ceramic layer was not particularly effective against: for the original ceramics the resistance against penetrators was about three times, for the newest composites it is about ten times less than against HEAT rounds. For this reason many modern designs include additional layers of heavy metals to add more density to the overall armour package.

The introduction of more effective ceramic composite materials allows for a larger width of these metal layers within the armour shell, given a certain protection level provided by the composite matrix. They typically form an inner layer placed below the much more expensive matrix[5], to prevent extensive damage to it should the metal layer strongly deform but not defeat a penetrator. They can also be used as the backing plate for the matrix itself, but this compromises the modularity and thus tactical adaptability of the armour system; furthermore, due to their extreme hardness, they deform insufficiently and would reflect too much of the impact energy to the ceramic tile. Metals used include a tungsten alloy for the Challenger 2[6] or, in the case of the M1A1HA (Heavy Armor) and later American tank variants, a depleted uranium alloy[7].

Some companies offer titanium carbide modules. These metal modules (typically employing perpendicular rods) have many perforations or expansion spaces reducing the weight up to about a third while keeping the protective qualities fairly constant. The depleted uranium alloy of the M1 has been described as "arranged in a type of armour matrix"[8] and a single module as a "stainless-steel shell surrounding a layer (probably an inch or two thick) of depleted uranium, woven into a wire-mesh blanket"[9].

Such modules are also used by tanks not equipped with Chobham armour. The combination of a composite matrix and heavy metal modules is sometimes informally referred to as "second generation Chobham"[10].

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