O SNAP! Liquid body armor!

Army scientists are working to develop a liquid body armor for clothing that stays flexible during normal use but becomes hard enough to stop a projectile when hit suddenly.

The researchers hope the liquid could be used in sleeves and pants, which are not protected by ballistic vests, and have to stay flexible.

"It's in the works," said Eric Wetzel, a mechanical engineer who heads the project team for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. "We've seen some very interesting things, and it's got a lot of promise."

The liquid, hard particles suspended in a fluid, is soaked into layers of Kevlar, which holds it in place. Scientists recently tested how well the liquid boosted the strength of a Kevlar vest by having an archer shoot arrows at it.

"What we find is that, instead of the arrow going through the Kevlar, it is completely stopped by the Kevlar vest � and sometimes just bounces right off," said Norman Wagner, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Delaware who is working on the project.

Vests treated with the liquid also have blocked stabs from an ice pick.

Researchers are working on further ballistics testing to stop bullets or shrapnel.

"There's opportunities there to, without adding weight or reducing flexibility, to provide protection against these types of threats as well," Wagner said.

The project, which has been underway for about three years, is a joint venture between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the University of Delaware's Center for Composite Materials.

Wetzel and Wagner are optimistic the liquid body armor will be useful to local police and prison guards. It also could one day be used to protect people in automobile and airplane crashes, they say.

A key component of the liquid armor is what Wetzel called a "shear thickening fluid." Hard particles are suspended in the liquid, polyethylene glycol. When the fluid is added to the vest, it changes how the "fabric architecture" interacts with an object, Wetzel said.

At low strain rates, the hard particles flow with the fluid, enabling clothing to stay flexible. But when heavily strained, the particles become rigid and "create a structure that can support mechanical stress," Wagner said.

"If it's impacted suddenly by a projectile or a knife, say, it rigidifies and somehow restricts the ability of the fabric to move � keeps the fabric in front of the bullet or the knife," Wetzel said.

The transition happens very quickly, a millisecond or quicker.

"If you relieve the stress it goes back to a liquid," Wagner said. "It's a very interesting material in that way."

Liquid Body Armor

Been there, done that:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Sorry, SilQ!

GOD DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!
o well.....

Reminds me of that stuff we made in first-year chemistry, lovingly called "ooblick." You mix cornstartch and water. If you put your hand into it slowly, it has the viscosity of water.

If you smack your hand into it, it'd literally shatter all over the tabletop.

I'm not sure what they'd use to develop such a thing, but my guess would be a fabric (?) with variable viscosities. Another idea would to be a kinetic-energy (or heat) response, though it would have to be almost instantaneous - when a rapidly moving projectile rams into something, its kinetic energy is translated into heat energy...So, if there were a fabric that had the properties, the impact (and transmission of energy) could result in it stiffening or becoming impermeable.

Originally posted by silQ
Army scientists are working to develop a liquid body armor for clothing that stays flexible during normal use but becomes hard enough to stop a projectile when hit suddenly.

Are they using some kind of testicle technology for this then? If someone kicked me in the balls, I could guess I would get so hard I could stop bullets with my butt cheeks. Sorry, guys, It's spring!!!!!!!!

would it stop you from using your limbs as quickly? or does this have to be like super fast like an arrow.

and how good is it against a crushing object?

I remember seeing a movie with stuff like this on comedy central, some superhero spoof movie and the guy soaked all his clothes (The part I remember is his underpants) in this liquid stuff and it repelled bullets.

It does sound a lot like the Ooblik though, Mabe the liquid drys, once dry it can bend and flex as easy as cloth but it won't break. I'm at school and I have bio next hour I'll ask my bio teacher or something, this is interesting though.

As pointed out above, this has been done already, sorry but i'm going to have to lock this thread.

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