Tiled armour science - trispokedovetiles - three-spoke dovetailing tiles

Trispokedovetiles: Three-spoke dovetailing tiles


I've programmed a webpage using Javascript to display an animation which shows a range of different trispokedovetiles, each of which can be specified by a "CIRCLE" percentage, which is the ratio as a percent of two parameters -

• A "HEXAGON" parameter length - always nominally "100%"
  
• A "CIRCLE" parameter length - the animation varies this between 100% and 135%, though values up to 150% can be drawn.

You can also use the webpage to specify a "CIRCLE" percentage and click to "Draw TRISPOKEDOVETILES" to generate an image of a tessellation of a particular shape of trispokedovetiles.

I've tested the animation in Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers and it works fine for me but it is not working in Firefox for some as yet unknown reason.

I've named the shape Trispokedovetile which is a contraction of "tri-spoke dovetailing tile".

• "tri-spoke" because the shape is similar to a 3-spoke motorcycle
  wheel with three bites taken out of it.
  
• "dovetailing" because the tiles interlock like a dovetail joint

Possible application to tiled armour

One issue with hexagonal or square armour tiles is that such simple shapes don't interlock naturally, as do jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Whilst a little armour tile movement normal to the armour plane is useful in absorbing the kinetic energy of a ballistic impact, such as from a bullet and better than the armour tile absorbing the same kinetic energy by shattering, on the other hand, tile movement tangential to the armour plane leaves most unwelcome gaps in the armour.

So armour tiles shaped like jigsaw puzzle shapes (or some hexagonal variation such as these trispokedovetiles) could perform well in this application.

The Tiles connect at the weakest point, I think the design needs some tweaking to eradicate this, You would want maximum surface area in contact with each other were the tiles join, And to minimise the weak areas aswell.

well its definitely interesting......i would love to see even a cheap mock up with wood or some other material for proof of concept


would it be flexible?

a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

find some one with a waterjet table and have a bunch cut out of a sheet of lexane, I would love to see a prototype. "go fund me" mabey?

originally posted by: ColaTesla
The Tiles connect at the weakest point, I think the design needs some tweaking to eradicate this, You would want maximum surface area in contact with each other were the tiles join, And to minimise the weak areas aswell.

The image shows only one possible trispokedovetile shape, for "CIRCLE = 125%".

My trispokedovetiles webpage allows the designer to tweak the shape of the trispokedovetiles displayed by entering another value for the "CIRCLE" parameter.

originally posted by: tribal
well its definitely interesting......

Thanks!

originally posted by: tribal
i would love to see even a cheap mock up with wood or some other material for proof of concept

Well be my guest and do your own cheap mock up.

originally posted by: tribal
would it be flexible?

I don't think it could be as flexible as overlapping scales armour, like Dragonskin.

I suppose with very small tiles the flexibility would be determined by how the tiles are mounted, whether the tiles are stuck or riveted onto something flexible like kevlar cloth or onto something rigid.

a reply to: Mr Peter Dow


Most interesting to me , as I am building flex skin drone fuselages . S&F . Thanks .

originally posted by: botay
a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

find some one with a waterjet table

Or a laser cutter.

originally posted by: botay
and have a bunch cut out of a sheet of lexane,

"lexane"? What's that?

I suggest that a sheet of silicon carbide or titanium would be better for prototyping with.

originally posted by: botay
I would love to see a prototype. "go fund me" mabey?

Well be my guest and make your own prototype.

originally posted by: Slakecontagia
a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

Most interesting to me , as I am building flex skin drone fuselages . S&F . Thanks .

Hey no problem and good luck!

originally posted by: Mr Peter Dow

originally posted by: ColaTesla
The Tiles connect at the weakest point, I think the design needs some tweaking to eradicate this, You would want maximum surface area in contact with each other were the tiles join, And to minimise the weak areas aswell.

The image shows only one possible trispokedovetile shape, for "CIRCLE = 125%".

My trispokedovetiles webpage allows the designer to tweak the shape of the trispokedovetiles displayed by entering another value for the "CIRCLE" parameter.

Ah my bad, I misunderstood and never adjusted the tiles, That is actually quite clever, In fact 125% is a happy medium, Might i suggest multiple layers of these tile, IE the weakest points are covered by the strongest areas as the material is layered?

If you wanted to model these tile, It could be easily be done using a 3D printer.

Make them out of wood for floor tiles. Would look great.

Always look for other markets

P

Would you mind if cast a few of these out of concrete? I think it would be a beautiful paving material.

originally posted by: Natas0114
Would you mind if cast a few of these out of concrete? I think it would be a beautiful paving material.

I think the wastage factor would be very low.

P

a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

It's certainly very interesting... Especially since the hex pattern is so cool and useful anyway.

The meiosis backpack too is very inspirational.

As far as prototyping goes titanium or boron carbide would be breathtakingly expensive.

However printing in nylon 6 should give you something strong enough to test...

Or if you have access to a big chunk of AR500 steel you could waterjet that maybe... I'd have to go through my reference collection to confirm though.

originally posted by: Natas0114
Would you mind if cast a few of these out of concrete? I think it would be a beautiful paving material.

No I don't mind at all. If you cast a few million, I wouldn't mind receiving an intellectual property fee - shall we say 1% of the sale price.

originally posted by: roguetechie
a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

It's certainly very interesting...

Thanks!

originally posted by: roguetechie
As far as prototyping goes titanium or boron carbide would be breathtakingly expensive.

Silicon carbide is many times cheaper than boron carbide.

originally posted by: roguetechie
However printing in nylon 6 should give you something strong enough to test...

Or a sheet of polycarbonate.

Tutorial on how to produce 3D images from my trispokedovetiles webpage

Step 1

Create a line image using my webpage, this is for CIRCLE = 120. Right click save image as.



Step 2

Use an image editing program such as paint.net

Crop the image to suit and use the paint bucket tool to fill the tiles you want to make 3D with another colour, I chose red.



Step 3

Use the magic wand tool with option flood mode global to select all the red area and then copy and paste the red area into a new image



Step 4

Use paint bucket tool to colour the tiles black



Step 5

Upload the black and white image to selva3d.com with option "Logo/text", adjust the height and rotate the image to suit and right click to save the image.

Just looking at what you have here on ATS, seems like you've got a lot of sharp corners, internal and external. From the standpoint of production cost and strength, I think you're going to want to fillet those out.

a reply to: Mr Peter Dow

a reply to: pheonix358

Right. And no more horizontal spread, as the tiles lock together. Be interested to see how they hold up in my area, predominantly Sandy soil with Temps that drop to -30 in winter- +90 in summer.