Slashdot Mirror
Bullet-Proof Sheets of Carbon Nanotubes
An anonymous reader notes a CNN.com report on Nanocomp Technologies, the first in the world to make sheets of carbon nanotubes. "In April, [CEO] Lashmore had a mechanical multicaliber gun shoot bullets at different versions of his sheet, each less than a fifth of an inch thick. ... Army tests show the material works as well as Kevlar. The military also hopes to replace copper wiring in planes and satellites with highly conductive nanotubes, saving millions of dollars in fuel costs."
That's an interesting question, but doesn't it apply to kevlar too? We've had kevlar vests for years, but no ammunition made of kevlar that I've heard of. Maybe the material isn't suitable to be shot out at high speeds/pressures?
Oh yeah, not to reply to myself, but shortly after high school I did some patent drawings for a cylindrical weapons mount you could load into a 120mm smoothbore cannon and inside the mount you could configure a .308, .50 cal or 25mm match grade barrels attached to an trigger mechanism that could be activated remotely while loaded in the main cannon of an Abrams.
This was supposed to be used for training purposes using ammo already found in the US Armory stores.
IIRC they went with a German training aid instead.
Interesting anecdote: When I was in the service (Army Infantry), some of the older sargents got to talking about unusual ammunition that they'd used/tested/heard about. Depleted Uranium came up, because it was before the first Desert Storm and no one had used it before. The other one still hasn't been used that I know of. It was a hollow plastic nose & metal cup round filled with liquid teflon.
The story went that during Viet Nam, a sniper was sent to wound some particular General, not kill him. He wasn't the greatest strategist, so we knew how to handle him, and didn't want him dead, but for some upcoming engagement we wanted him on the sidelines, so he was marked for a wounding and not a dirt-nap. They sent the sniper out with these new liquid teflon rounds to try. Mistake. When the round hit the General in the shoulder, the liquid came out in strings and tore his whole arm and shoulder off, inducing massive shock and bleeding him out in seconds.
Probably BS, but makes for an interestingly morbid story.
When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.