Liquid armor

British arms company BAE systems has unveiled a material that could be used to produce next-generation bulletproof vests. The new product is a liquid thickener, the chemical formula of which the company is keeping secret. It is proposed to be used in combination with traditional Kevlar, which is used to make modern bulletproof vests.

At BAE Systems, the new material is called “bulletproof cream.”

"It is very similar to custard in the sense that the molecules stick together when struck," explains BAE Systems development manager Stuart Penny, who is responsible for developing new materials.

US Army research laboratories also conducted tests with similar materials.

However, as they say in BAE, tests for the first time in Bristol indicate that "liquid armor" can effectively protect soldiers from bullets and shrapnel.

Thanks to the new technology, the company says, lighter, flexible and effective body armor can appear on the market.

“The standard body armor that we are using now is too thick and heavy,” says Stuart Penny. “It consists of several layers of Kevlar, which hinders movement and increases the load.”

In a series of tests, the developers used large gas guns that fired metal balls at a speed of 300 meters per second.

In one test, the target was an 31 raw Kevlar layer. In another case, ten layers of Kevlar combined with a liquid thickener were used.

"Kevlar with the addition of liquid worked more quickly, and the penetration was not so deep," the researchers said according to the results of tests in the Bristol VAE Technology Development Center.

Comments

[matvey.z]

The developments are being carried out within the framework of the ADAPTIVE ARMOR project - increasing the effectiveness of body armor.
This project, in turn, is part of a larger project to introduce new production technology for the Joint Strike fighter.

Armor consists of several complex elements that
are designed to work together. Individual properties of materials, when combined, effectively absorb the energy of damaging elements. The system's durability can be increased by using various fillers. The solution is initially inexpensive and scalable for all objects that require protection.
It is proposed to use the so-called non-Newtonian fluid
(STF). The viscosity of which changes with the velocity gradient (shear, deformation)

A primitive example of STF fluid is a mixture of starch and water.
In my opinion, the principle by which this liquid armor will work is based on a well-known everyday example: if you spread a polyethylene film or an ordinary newspaper on water and try to jump from a significant height, the effect will be like jumping onto a concrete slab. At a great height, a broken leg or spine is guaranteed, while the newspaper or film will not tear.

[Honory]

In the bourgeois give.