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Military Develops Liquid Body Armor

Posted by simoniker on from the wet-n-wild dept.

kai5263499 writes "Military.com has an article about a new liquid body armor the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has developed. According to Dr. Eric Wetzel, the project coordinator: 'The key component of liquid armor is a shear thickening fluid. STF is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard, nano-particles of silica are the other components of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties'."

2 of 688 comments (clear)

  1. So it's a non-newtonian fluid by swagr · · Score: 2, Redundant

    Like silly-putty or cornstarch and water.

    It's actually surprising no-one has figured this out sooner. (or maybe the idea has been around a long time but the perfect materials were the key).

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  2. Like corn starch and water... by rindeee · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ...that we used to mix when I was a kid. It was liquid until pressure was applied at which point it became sort of solid. Cool stuff. I remember "rolling" it into a ball and smacking it with a hammer which caused it to shatter. Then the pieces would "melt" into little puddles. It made the perfect weapon. You could roll it into a hard ball and bean someone with it, after which it would fall onto the ground and melt into the grass. What fun.