Posted on 07/25/2006 8:19:26 PM PDT by neverdem
It flows like a liquid, but push it with enough force and it will stop you right in your tracks.
Research at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen is at the heart of a new technology that could mean lightweight, flexible armor for U.S. soldiers.
The armor would move more like normal clothing while protecting more of the body, including the joints often left vulnerable by traditional body armor, said Eric Wetzel, a researcher in the Army laboratory's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate.
The liquid armor is actually traditional body armor soaked in a substance known as shear thickening fluid, Wetzel said. The liquid contains nanoparticles too tiny to see but more than big enough to have an impact - and to stop one.
If left alone or moved around at a normal rate, the liquid mimics the movement of water, he noted. However, when faced with a sudden impact, the particles don't have time to get out of each other's way so they lock into place, resisting even the strongest movements.
"That means a material capable of stopping a bullet can now resist even more," Wetzel remarked. He said it is common to combine different armor technologies to create more effective means of protection.
For instance, it can greatly improve the effectiveness of Kevlar, a bulletproof fiber used in the vests of soldiers and police officers. While Kevlar can stop a bullet, it is still just a fiber, meaning thin points such as an ice pick or a hypodermic needle can push past the threads and do what a bullet cannot. Wetzel said Kevlar fiber treated with shear thickening fluid will lock into place and resist such tiny intrusions.
"Together, they're both much stronger than they are apart," Wetzel added.
The combination also means armor manufacturers can reduce the layers of Kevlar needed in vests and other protective garments, so the nano-treated armor also becomes lighter and more flexible as it becomes more resistant.
Lighter, cheaper, stronger. "Weight is the name of the game in anti-ballistic products," said Michael Fox, spokesman for Armor Holdings Inc.
In February, the Florida-based company licensed the liquid armor technology through the University of Delaware. Norman Wagner, a professor of chemical engineering in the school's Center for Composite Research, developed the initial technology and contacted the Army laboratory in 2000 about the possibility of applying the fluid to body armor, Wetzel said. He said it took several years before the lab produced any positive results.
"However, showing it could work is only the first step," Wetzel declared.
The science community proved its potential, Fox said, but now industry has to apply it.
Fox said new and improved body armor is big business, and demand has grown significantly since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Recently, California-based Ceradyne Inc. received a five-year, $611 million contract from the U.S. Army for its lightweight ceramic body armor.
Fox said he believed the compelling, promising technology of liquid armor could have a significant effect on the market.
Armor Holdings manufactures and sells a wide variety of armored and protective materials, according to Fox. The company markets to the military, the law enforcement community and other groups that need protection.
Fox said Armor Holdings first intends to market the liquid armor technology to the correctional facility market. The puncture-proof fiber would seem especially vital for prison guards who face threats not from bullets but from homemade knives and other blades, Fox added.
Wetzel said the technology has other possible applications outside of the military and law enforcement markets. For instance, the shear thickening fluid can be used to treat gloves and clothing that could protect health care and sanitation workers from accidental punctures. That would increase the level of safety while also reducing costs associated with injury, he said.
"The Race suits will be worn by Bode Miller and the rest of the US and Canadian Ski teams at this winter’s Olympics in Turin. "
So how did that work out for them?
That – and haggis.
Good point (grin). Thanks, I missed that.
We really do have capabilities that are classified and look like majic. Our enemies have no idea what we can do to them. Just wait until we get really serious! All modesty aside, a few of those ideas were mine; hence, my moniker.
A while back a muzzie ambushed a GI as he came around a corner and shot him point blank in the face. The muzzie was about to celebrate thinking he killed an infidel but when he saw the soldier standing firm and still holding the rifle at him he dropped his gun and surrendered on the spot. The GI caught the bullet right in his front tooth displacing it. He didn't even realize he'd been shot till he felt the blood running down his face.
Stories like that really scare the muzzies.
We should gather up all these stories and even the hints and guesses and publish them in comic book form for easy reading by our enemy. Remind them that they have a lot to worry about, and they don't even know the half of it.
It's a non-newtonian fluid like ketchup - freaky, aren't they?
This stuff is in the silly putty family.
...and I thought they were washed up when Clinton came (har!) into the White House
My thought exactly.
Us Canadians have the technology now! http://www.ribcap.ca
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