Scientists Transform T-Shirts Into Body Armor

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Rofl-Mic-Lofl

For Whom The Bell Trolls
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Scientists have discovered a way to create body armor that is both as flexible and lightweight as an ordinary shirt. This sounds like a great alternative to me carrying around a jacket with 18 hard drives in it!
By splicing the carbon in the cotton with boron, the third hardest material on the planet, researchers at the University of South Carolina markedly increased the fabric’s toughness. The result is a lightweight shirt reinforced with boron carbide—the same material used to shield military tanks.
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blankman_1994_685x385.jpg
 
When the inventor was asked for the reason behind making this product, he responded "My son goes to public school in LA. He's been shot 3 times over the last year and he's not even out of elementary school yet!'
 
This is great and all but but any tissue on the other side of this armor would still suffer severe trauma without penetrating the material. Sure, it might keep a bullet from going all the way through, but depending on how flexible it is, it might still get halfway through and that's all it takes to kill someone. Definitely not comparable to vests used by police officers and such, and I realize that's probably not the intent, but to call this armor is a bit of a misnomer.
 
Ohhh snap, we got rofl-mic-lofl doing some news now? *puts on glasses*

YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! :p

Topic related: sounds like some crazy stuff. I moved out of LA county 2 years ago and just may move back if I can get outfits out of this snazzy new half-tank, half-cotton material.
 
Bgrngod: You're missing the point. It's not just the fact that the material can stop bullets penetrating. The fact that it's as tough as tank armor means it has a tremendous number of uses where a lightweight, tear-resistant material is desired. Safety equipment, for one, comes to mind. How about extra protection for astronauts against micrometeor penetration of their space suits? Anything you want to inflate with a gas and not risk puncturing... How about automobile airbags, or building it right into the framework of a car to strengthen the structure, lighten the vehicle's weight, and lessen cabin penetration during a collision?

As for actual armor, they've not posted any data regarding testing against firearms of various caliber and projectile type, Stopping a 9mm pistol round is one thing. Stopping a .50 cal armor-piercing incendiary is another. Material thickness also comes into play. Just because the material is flexible doesn't mean it can't be made rigid either. Look at Dragonskin armor. It's flexible and it's at least as effective if not better than Interceptor, which is not. If the material can be made rigid or layered with a stiffening material, and could provide a lightweight armor against high powered small arms and explosive shrapnel, that's a huge boon to military and law enforcement.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses. Hopefully its durability will last over time and against adverse environmental conditions. I wonder what kind of chemical properties it has. It would be a tremendous setback if it broke down over a short time or when exposed to common acids or bases.
 
Bgrngod said:
This is great and all but but any tissue on the other side of this armor would still suffer severe trauma without penetrating the material. Sure, it might keep a bullet from going all the way through, but depending on how flexible it is, it might still get halfway through and that's all it takes to kill someone. Definitely not comparable to vests used by police officers and such, and I realize that's probably not the intent, but to call this armor is a bit of a misnomer.
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I just came in here to post exactly that. Flexible means that a bullet or anything travelling with such force will still impact ribs/organs and kill.

Cool as it still is, i wouldn't look at it as 'body armour' as such, let alone 'bullet proof'
 
Rossi~ said:
I just came in here to post exactly that. Flexible means that a bullet or anything travelling with such force will still impact ribs/organs and kill.

Cool as it still is, i wouldn't look at it as 'body armour' as such, let alone 'bullet proof'
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Agreed, although this could be solved my adding some sort of rigid or simi rigid backing. Although that king of defeats the coolness factor of a bullet stopping t-shirt. It may simply lead to much lighter, more flexible armor.
 
Phoenix333 said:
Bgrngod: You're missing the point. It's not just the fact that the material can stop bullets penetrating. The fact that it's as tough as tank armor means it has a tremendous number of uses where a lightweight, tear-resistant material is desired. Safety equipment, for one, comes to mind. How about extra protection for astronauts against micrometeor penetration of their space suits? Anything you want to inflate with a gas and not risk puncturing... How about automobile airbags, or building it right into the framework of a car to strengthen the structure, lighten the vehicle's weight, and lessen cabin penetration during a collision?

As for actual armor, they've not posted any data regarding testing against firearms of various caliber and projectile type, Stopping a 9mm pistol round is one thing. Stopping a .50 cal armor-piercing incendiary is another. Material thickness also comes into play. Just because the material is flexible doesn't mean it can't be made rigid either. Look at Dragonskin armor. It's flexible and it's at least as effective if not better than Interceptor, which is not. If the material can be made rigid or layered with a stiffening material, and could provide a lightweight armor against high powered small arms and explosive shrapnel, that's a huge boon to military and law enforcement.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses. Hopefully its durability will last over time and against adverse environmental conditions. I wonder what kind of chemical properties it has. It would be a tremendous setback if it broke down over a short time or when exposed to common acids or bases.
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Eh I don't think anything can stop an 80 km/s micrometeorite. :p
 
Eh He, J Five what's Happening to me? Love that movie Blank man. I can picture a T-shirt that is bullet resistant It would have to be a bit think or have a few shirts interwoven to each other becuase the bullet will still push into you. Even if it does not pierce the shirt,.
 
Azhar said:
Eh I don't think anything can stop an 80 km/s micrometeorite. :p
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True, but not all objects in space are traveling that fast. There's plenty enough junk in orbit to pose a threat to astronauts. A little extra armor couldn't hurt.
 
well even if it stops the bullet since its such a thin material it could transfer a lot of energy through your body in the form of a shockwave that could still do some damage
 
anyone else find it oddly sad that his reason to create the stuff was his son has been shot three times and he is not out of elementary school? jeese!
 
groebuck said:
anyone else find it oddly sad that his reason to create the stuff was his son has been shot three times and he is not out of elementary school? jeese!
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Yeah, I was thinking that even if it doesn't work all that well, it could still *sell* very well.
 
OCgamer666 said:
Check out D3O it's a gel based product that hardens upon impact, it could be used a a backing material for this product.

http://www.d3o.com/
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This is what I was thinking, though I wasn't aware of the existence of that gel. Would probably end up being closer to a sweater or a hoodie than a normal shirt in thickness.
 
mynamehere said:
This is what I was thinking, though I wasn't aware of the existence of that gel. Would probably end up being closer to a sweater or a hoodie than a normal shirt in thickness.
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Thye make beanies and body armor out of the stuff, the race suits the Olympic Alpine racers were using had d3o in them. It hardens more like a plastic and distributes loads fairly well, combine that with a thin layer you can't penetrate and it should be able to spread the load well.
 
OCgamer666 said:
Thye make beanies and body armor out of the stuff, the race suits the Olympic Alpine racers were using had d3o in them. It hardens more like a plastic and distributes loads fairly well, combine that with a thin layer you can't penetrate and it should be able to spread the load well.
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Looks like some really sweet stuff...too bad the most likely garments to utilize these technologiesand sell well will be ghettowear.:(

Introducing bulletproof street gear...no more laser tag or paintball...now you can use live ammo for fun & games...or that friendly round of "drive-by"!!!:p
 
It would keep say a .223 bullet from fragmenting inside you. I'd take 1 pencil sized hole half-way through me over a whole bunch of little ones going every which way. Also, while armor helps deflect bullets (energy) they also have to spread it out if it's not deflected which I could see this doing (especially if it was worn tightly or put tightly onto a rigid framework.) Basically the force going through you, instead becomes force compressing around you or some framework. Picture pulling on a diver's suit from the inside, at some point you start trying to pull/stretch against the more than just the small piece you're holding, spreading out that force.
 
My question is, how flammable is that shirt since one of the main components is cotton? An incendiary round could be disastrous if it's just the shirt.
 
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