Grundy

i think i read about the liquid armour on here before but i can't remember seeing a video on it, and as it happens ive found one , http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1150446097/Liquid_Armor
looks interesting and a vast improvement on protection, i think theres only one qualm about it is from the looks of it i think it could cause a fair bit of tissue damage, but its better than having bullets bouncing around your chest

RustyBattleship

At first I thought you were pulling our legs because when I clicked on your link all I saw were lists of porn movies. Not that I object to them, it's just that hyper-ventilation is not good for my heart condition.

When I finally zeroed in on the liquid armor report I found it interesting, but not new. Using a liquid or gelataneous substance to dissipate bullet energy has been experimented with for some time. The problem is that if the outer layer of the vest is penetrated, the liquid "armor" would spill out.e

The idea was first experimented with using liquid cooling vests (designed for tank crewmen and Hazmat personnel so they could exceed the 20 minute limit of being inside a hot box or suit) underneath Kevlar vests. Tests showed that the additional layer of the tubed vests with cooled water in them added to bullet protection along with the outer armor vest.

Believe it or not, the best item that has been found to increase armor protection of a Kevlar vest is a layer of chain mail in between. Construction is the same as used centuries ago but all done by machine and using a much higher quality of steel. It helps dissipate bullet impact energy, helps reduce bullet penetration and is much more flexible than stiff ceramic plates that are just as heavy.

ArmchairGeneral

Chain mail!? Shwwwweeeet! Now that's old school!

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Grundy

Rusty Battleship, it is actually quite suprising that chain mail can still be used today, who needs all this fancy high tech equipment, is this a relatively new find or has it been something that people have dismissed as nonsense, i would expect the chain mail to be alot cheaper and easier to use, i dont know if i mis heard the video but dont u sorta like paint that liquid onto the kevlar? surely in harsh conditions such as iraq it would evaporate and i expect you would need to put a new coat on each day although surely you could encorparate all 3, kevlar , liquid armour and chain mail, the plus side to this liquid armour is even if it isnt used on a kevlar body protection it could be encorparated to protect the legs and arms as it should be flexible

sorry about the "adverts" on there i was gunna say something but i fel that it might derive it of the point and people would ignore it purely because i said that it had "porn" maybe it was the wrong option , but dumpalink was the only site i could find it on within 5 minutes of looking, i am very lazy

RustyBattleship

Grundy:
Actually I was also quite surprised, and pleased, when the use of chain mail in addition to fiber bullet resistant clothing had its merits. It was on a special cable program about personal body armor and one of the manufacturers was shown various items thoroughly tested as an additional or enclosed layer. I was surprised when he picked up a shirt of chain mail and said, "But chain mail still has good possibilities".

The only real problem is weight but ceremic plates in the pockets are just as heavier or heavier but will stop more than just pistol bullets.

I see problems with the liquid type of shock absorbtion because of evaporation, spillage, etc. As I mentioned, the possibility of adding liquid filled cavities was discovered when tank crewmen were testing out a liquid cooled vest to lower body heat in summer desert ops. The "Flak Jacket" over the cooling vest gave somebody in ordnance the idea to test both. I learned this when doing a feasibility study on ABC contamination and recommended using the vests to cool ship crewmen in hot spaces such as boiler rooms, engine rooms, diesel generator rooms, etc.

Talking about ceramic plates in the pockets, have you ever looked at a WW II US Navy Life Jacket? It has pockets in front. During General Quarters all crewmen wear their life jackets, especially those topside. Exposed gun crewmen (20 mm & 40 mm mounts) had quarter-inch thick steel plates in the pockets for additional body armor (more of a confidence shield than practical armor). Should they have to abandon ship, or were knocked overboard, they could take the steel plates out and dump them. If they were conscious enough to do so.

When we inspected the Missouri for reactivation in the 80's, we found a storeroom with piles of these steel plates. Sized just right for life jacket pockets but were NORMALLY used (by smaller ships without an incinerator) for sinking bags of materials so an enemy boat couldn't pick it up and gain some intelligence info from the contents.

kNikS

ROFL

I even forgot to continue to read thread... LOL

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The Chap

It was me. Colloidlal fluids. Try it with cornflour in water, poured into a placky zip-lock bag. All squishy? Whack it! Odd eh?

P.S. custard and baking powder work as well.

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dalem

I believe the term is "thixatropic", if I remember my old geology classes well enough. The idea is that if you make a thick slurry of "planar" particles, i.e. cubes or flakes, a small steady force allows the slurry to act as a liquid as the particles slide across one another aided by their flat surfaces and the available water.

Apply a sudden shock though, and the slurry becomes a rigid medium, because there is insufficient time to allow the liquid to act as a lubricant for the particles.

As mentioned above, a bowl of water with a sufficient amount of corn starch (flakes) creates such a slurry. Get the right mix and you can gently stir the mixture or even pour it out slowly, but if you punch the surface hard your fist will not penetrate. It's a pretty cool and cheap kitchen science experiment, and loads of fun.

I think this is basically how quicksand works too.

-dale

omon

Liquid Armor: Science Videos - Science News - ScienCentral
YouTube - Liquid Bullet-Proof Armour

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