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Army scientists, engineers develop liquid body armor
Army News Service ^
| April 21, 2004
| Tonya Johnson
Posted on 04/22/2004 2:47:46 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Army News Service, April 21, 2004) -- Liquid armor for Kevlar vests is one of the newest technologies being developed at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to save Soldiers' lives.
This type of body armor is light and flexible, which allows soldiers to be more mobile and wont hinder an individual from running or aiming his or her weapon.
The key component of liquid armor is a shear thickening fluid. STF is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard, nano-particles of silica are the other components of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties.
During normal handling, the STF is very deformable and flows like a liquid. However, once a bullet or frag hits the vest, it transitions to a rigid material, which prevents the projectile from penetrating the Soldiers body, said Dr. Eric Wetzel, a mechanical engineer from the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate who heads the project team.
To make liquid armor, STF is soaked into all layers of the Kevlar vest. The Kevlar fabric holds the STF in place, and also helps to stop the bullet. The saturated fabric can be soaked, draped, and sewn just like any other fabric.
Wetzel and his team have been working on this technology with Dr. Norman J. Wagner and his students from the University of Delaware for three years.
The goal of the technology is to create a new material that is low cost and lightweight which offers equivalent or superior ballistic properties as compared to current Kevlar fabric, but has more flexibility and less thickness, said Wetzel. This technology has a lot of potential.
Liquid armor is still undergoing laboratory tests, but Wetzel is enthusiastic about other applications that the technology might be applied to.
The skys the limit, said Wetzel. We would first like to put this material in a soldiers sleeves and pants, areas that arent protected by ballistic vests but need to remain flexible. We could also use this material for bomb blankets, to cover suspicious packages or unexploded ordnance. Liquid armor could even be applied to jump boots, so that they would stiffen during impact to support Soldiers' ankles.
In addition to saving Soldiers' lives, Wetzel said liquid armor in Kevlar vests could help those who work in law enforcement.
Prison guards and police officers could also benefit from this technology, said Wetzel. Liquid armor is much more stab resistant than conventional body armor. This capability is especially important for prison guards, who are most often attacked with handmade sharp weapons.
For their work on liquid armor, Wetzel and his team were awarded the 2002 Paul A. Siple Award, the Armys highest award for scientific achievement, at the Army Science Conference.
(Editors note: Tonya Johnson is a member of the Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs Office.)
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bang; bodyarmor; kevlar; miltech
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To: Congressman Billybob
Liquid Armour?
41
posted on
04/22/2004 3:57:40 PM PDT
by
adam_az
(Call your state Republican party office and VOLUNTEER FOR A CAMPAIGN!!!)
To: Shaun_MD
you should have seen the peanutbutter thread last night :)
42
posted on
04/22/2004 4:01:17 PM PDT
by
King Prout
(poets and philosophers should NEVER pretend to Engineering... especially SOCIAL Engineering!)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Very cool stuff
Thanks for the ping
43
posted on
04/22/2004 4:01:19 PM PDT
by
firewalk
To: King Prout
Rof - Peanut butter? I won't even ask about that one...
44
posted on
04/22/2004 4:03:30 PM PDT
by
Shaun_MD
("...Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges - In Times of War, The Law Will Be Silent..." - Cicero)
To: Shaun_MD
Even plain old water shows some of this behavior. When you dive into the water correctly, it flows around you easily. When you do a belly-flop, you slam it hard while presenting a broad surface area. It thus would have to move aside very fast to get out of your way and avoid stinging your skin. It doesn't flow that fast, everyone hears a loud "crack," and you get stung.
45
posted on
04/22/2004 4:05:22 PM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building! Able to leap tall bullets in a single bound!)
To: Shaun_MD
"instant classic" FR thread, destined for moose-bites and hugh series showers.
I'll see if I can find it in the stack and send you a link.
RIOT.
46
posted on
04/22/2004 4:05:53 PM PDT
by
King Prout
(poets and philosophers should NEVER pretend to Engineering... especially SOCIAL Engineering!)
To: Shaun_MD; King Prout
Orange hair for everybody!!
47
posted on
04/22/2004 4:06:57 PM PDT
by
4mycountry
("Completely concretely" - - That's "the power of the 'Freeper'.")
To: 4mycountry; Shaun_MD
48
posted on
04/22/2004 4:08:56 PM PDT
by
King Prout
(poets and philosophers should NEVER pretend to Engineering... especially SOCIAL Engineering!)
To: VadeRetro
I never thought about that, but you're exactly right.
49
posted on
04/22/2004 4:08:56 PM PDT
by
Shaun_MD
("...Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges - In Times of War, The Law Will Be Silent..." - Cicero)
To: King Prout
Neat stuff.
50
posted on
04/22/2004 4:10:50 PM PDT
by
4mycountry
("Completely concretely" - - That's "the power of the 'Freeper'.")
To: King Prout
51
posted on
04/22/2004 4:16:43 PM PDT
by
Shaun_MD
("...Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges - In Times of War, The Law Will Be Silent..." - Cicero)
To: 4mycountry
figgered you'd dig it.
52
posted on
04/22/2004 4:21:36 PM PDT
by
King Prout
(poets and philosophers should NEVER pretend to Engineering... especially SOCIAL Engineering!)
To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Never mind the obvious, unintended side effect - that the newly-armored soldier now leaves a sickly green slugtrail of "liquid armor" everywhere he goes :)
To: O.C. - Old Cracker
However, once a bullet or frag hits the vest, it transitions to a rigid material But does it transition fast enough?
54
posted on
04/22/2004 4:29:12 PM PDT
by
William Terrell
(Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
To: King Prout
"DIG" it?!
And you thought Zelda games were so 90s. ;)
55
posted on
04/22/2004 4:29:19 PM PDT
by
4mycountry
("Completely concretely" - - That's "the power of the 'Freeper'.")
To: VadeRetro
Not really. Water is a fairly Newtonian fluid, ie the the shear stress is linear with the shear rate. Shear thickening is when the shear stress increases with shear rate (often at an exponential). Diving is actually a higher shear than belly flopping. If water were shear thickening, it would actually resist your diving into it more than your belly flop, and both would hurt. Also, if water were shear thickening, it wouldn't be such a miracle to walk on it!
To: King Prout
If I could pick your brain for a second, would these contigous pockets of liquid armor be without air? Do you think the paratrooper shoes would be like Asics gels with this super strong liquid armor inside?
To: Flying Circus
Shear thickening is when the shear stress increases with shear rate (often at an exponential). Hmmm. I was envisioning the problem as sort of a critical viscosity cutoff and not appreciating the importance of the shear part of "shear thickening." That is, not only does the liquid not want to flow, it doesn't want to slide across itself.
58
posted on
04/22/2004 4:36:58 PM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building! Able to leap tall bullets in a single bound!)
To: VadeRetro
Yep. This is common in long chain molecules like oils and polymers (the article mentions poly-ethylene glycol) where the chains can get wound and caught in each other. The chains act like a net and pull tight against applied forces. When relaxed they slide by each other.
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
T-1000 Bump.:-)
60
posted on
04/22/2004 4:52:03 PM PDT
by
SAMWolf
(Stress is when you wake up screaming & you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.)
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