commercial nanotech body armor

[Coronach]

Here's the thing:

We have not had armor proof against rifle rounds since...well, since we've had rifles. This has meant that personal armor, in a general trend, has been disappearing from the battlefield since the 1500s. Now, we've recently had limited success with ceramics that changes this trend, but this if it works as advertised could potentially reverse this. Moreover, weapons designers will have to figure out the best way to defeat this new development. Is small/light (5.56 NATO/5.45 Russian) the best way, or is something more powerful (6.8 SPC or, God forbid, 7.62 NATO) the way to go, or will it be something else entirely?

This could be freakin HUGE in the development of small arms. Think total paradigm shift. All weapons development in the past century has been predicated upon the idea that you can do more with less energy sent downrange. This completely undoes that. IF it actually does what it is currently thought capable of doing.

Mike

 

[AJ Dual]

Aside from AP penetrators, IMO rounds with higher sectional density (long and skinny for thier given weight) would begin to dominate the battlefield.

Anyway, it's not clear to me that these shear thickening fluids are substantially bullet resistant by themselves. How "hard" under impact is hard?

I'm sure it's a big advance, but it seems to me it does more to resist the backface deformation (a.k.a "the dent") but the aramid fibers still do the lion's share of the stopping.

 

[WayneConrad]

"STFs are special materials with nano-particles that exhibit properties normally associated with both solids and liquids, but are rarely found in the same material."

Buzzword alert. Whether this stuff works as advertised or not, the "nano-technology" buzzword is being applied gratuitously. The rare material property they are exploiting can be had in your kitchen by mixing... ready for this? Corn starch with a little water. It's easy to make a paste that pours like syrup and yet turns rigid when hit. I'm sure it's much harder to come up with one that will make adequate armor, but repeating the word "nano-technology" over and over is silly.

 

[whitebear]

Did anyone else flash on "Dune" when strambo brought up knives against this armor? "The slow blade penetrates the shield..." - Gurney Halleck.

 

[AJ Dual]

Buzzword alert. Whether this stuff works as advertised or not, the "nano-technology" buzzword is being applied gratuitously. The rare material property they are exploiting can be had in your kitchen by mixing... ready for this? Corn starch with a little water. It's easy to make a paste that pours like syrup and yet turns rigid when hit. I'm sure it's much harder to come up with one that will make adequate armor, but repeating the word "nano-technology" over and over is silly.

Yes, I caught that. The initial media buzz over "nanotech" inspired visons of legions of microscopic robots eating cancer cells and whatnot, but such technology barring some unforseen breakthrough is decades in the future.

So now "nanotech" gets used to describe any clever materials science where interesting things happen on the very small scale. Since "nanotech" just literaly translates as "tiny technology" it's technicaly not a misuse of the term, but since the popular meme is the little robots, it certainly violates the spirit.

Did anyone else flash on "Dune" when strambo brought up knives against this armor? "The slow blade penetrates the shield..." - Gurney Halleck.

Yah. I thought about Dune shield fighting right away. I was going to post something, but didn't want to look like a dork for bringing it up, dork...

 

[strambo]

Heh, I haven't even seen "Dune"...I know, I'm awefully un-cultured.

 

[wQuay]

Did anyone else flash on "Dune" when strambo brought up knives against this armor? "The slow blade penetrates the shield..." - Gurney Halleck.

Yep. Guns aren't going anywhere, but is the elite soldier of the future a man in armor
wielding a morning star?

 

[Linux&Gun Guy]

I've been following this research in the literature for awhile now and its not BS. There have been many papers published about STFs and how they can be used to impregnate kevlar and various other fibers. Much of this research was/is sponsered by the DoD.

I've wanted very much to make some myself - not something good enough to stop a bullet but I'm thinking more of a arm sleeve that has good stab and impact protection using only say 2 kevlar layers.

Nanotech is a justified term here as the tentitive research into the "How?" point to the silica snowflakes being nanometers in diameter and they lock up in the propylene glycol solvent when shearing force is applied.

 

[0007]

Friend of mine is "involved" with an on-going project developing next-gen body armor. He says that the people he is working with have developed a flexible vest that will take multiple hits from a 30-06/.308 AP round at 25/ 30 feet without a breakthrough and it doesn't weigh 20 lbs... I'm going to see it next time I go down to FL.

 

[Librarian]

Heh, I haven't even seen "Dune"

Probably a good thing to have missed the 1984 movie; I haven't seen the 2000 SciFi channel version. Read the book. Frank Herbert, Dune, originally published 1965 but lots of later editions - used paperback for about $1, or borrow from a library for free.

The personal shield generator in the book is some kind of electronic device, with the annoying quality of attracting large dangerous creatures on the planet Arrakis.

 

[AJ Dual]

It also detonates in a fusion-like explosion whenever it comes in contact with a lser weapon. (and the weapon too...)

 

[10 Ring Tao]

Looks like a DNA sample.

 

[EvisceratorSrB]

Yeah, it stops bullets, but is it fireproof? Light? Breathable? Flexible?

From what I've seen (actually seen this type of material used for body armor on tv), it looks exactly like spandex. IF it is similar to spandex, it must be light, breathable, and extremely flexible. Fireproof? Maybe needs a little time on that one...

 

[trapperjohn]

waynconrad is right about carn starch and water making a STF. I often use a mixture of the stuff when i teach fluid mechanics. If you mix a small cup or bowl of the stuff you can easily slip your finger into it. If you try to stick anythign into it wiht any velocity it is like hitting a rock. ITs really amazing to slide a finger in as if you are slipping it into pancake batter, but then turn around and hit it with a hammer and its like hitting a piece of oak.

STF are generally a suspension of small particles in a liquid, the reason nanotech comes into play is in producing the suspended particles. At this point in time in the research communities there is a LOT, and i mean A LOT, of money being put into nanotechnology. For this reason, one way to increase the ods of funding on a project is to insure it has a nano component.