I used to wonder if its possible for one not to fear bullets. Imagine padding yourself with some white stuff that automatically makes it impossible for bullet to touch you!
Well, researchers at a Rice University lab are researching technology that
that could potentially stop a 9-millimeter bullet and seal the entryway
behind it - an advance that may have huge implications for ballistic protection for soldiers, as well as other uses.
During tests, the researchers were able to shoot tiny glass beads at the
material, which effectively stopped bullets in their paths.
"This would be a great ballistic windshield material," scientist Ned Thomas said in a clip posted on the university's website.
The group, which included scientist Thomas, Rice research scientist Jae-Hwang Lee and a team from MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies,
was looking for ways to make materials "more impervious to deformation
or failure." The result would be better, stronger, lighter armor for
soldiers and police, and protection for sensitive materials subject to
small, fast moving objects, such as aircraft and satellites.
The researchers were looking at a complex polyurethane material that
they saw was able to stop a 9 mm slug and seal its entryway. When
penetrated by a tiny projectile at a high velocity, the material melted
into a liquid that stopped the fast-moving object and actually sealed
the hole it made.
"There's no macroscopic damage; the material hasn't failed; it hasn't cracked," Thomas said.
During their research, they found an excellent model material called a
polystyrene-polydimethylsiloxane diblock-copolymer. Using two different
methods, the team was eventually able to cross-section the structure to
determine the depth of the bullets, and according to their study, the
layers showed the ability to deform without breaking.
"[The layers] tell the story of the evolution of penetration of the
projectile and help us understand what mechanisms, at the nanoscale, may
be taking place in order for this to be such a great, high-performance,
lightweight protection material."
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