Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MythBuster Developing Light-Weight Vehicle Armor

Posted by samzenpus on from the using-your-day-job dept.

gearystwatcher writes "MythBusters' Jamie Hyneman has been developing blast-resistant, light-weight armor for use on US military vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan based on his work with show co-host Adam Savage. 'We had a lot of experience in the show dealing with explosives, obviously in ways and situations that are outside the norm. This is very revealing, because when you see something outside the norm you get to see what the boundaries of the phenomenon are,' Hyneman tells The Reg during an interview for the new MythBusters' season."

2 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"Bulletproof glass" mistake? by CAIMLAS · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no such thing as "bulletproof glass". Usually, what you have is a combination of two things:

    * a polymer and glass layered sheet
    * of a specific thickness and ply count

    For instance, most 'bulletproof glass' is just rated for pistol calibers (as I believe bank teller glass tends to be). Rifle calibers will punch right through. I think you'll need something close to 6" or so to withstand a shot or two from a 30 caliber, high velocity rifle (eg. think mostly anything from WWII, 7.62 NATO, 7.62R, etc.). A .50 Browning is likely to put a nice 'little' pock in such a plate. I wouldn't stand on the other side voluntarily.

    And, with all frangible materials, with repeated impacts they will start to be less effective at fulfilling their role.

    I believe there's a new polymer/glass/transparent aluminum glass out there, too, but they're all variations on the same theme.

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  2. Re:To all "They're not REAL scientists!" posters by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Agreed, although funny enough, neither of them are "trained" Engineers.

    Jamie has a degree in Russian linguistics and Adam is an acting college dropout. Although they have more lay person building skills than I could ever hope to have. Screw you high school guidance counselor that refused to let me take Welding since I was "college bound"

    The rest of the cast:
    Grant has a BSEE.
    Kari is a sculpting artist.
    Tory just started out as a stage manager running errands and just worked his way up the ranks.
    ------
    *There are a few old guys from my company that started out from the bottom. Starting at the loading bay and some how ending up as master engineer despite having no degree what so ever. It's really rare any more, but it does still happen. Not everyone has the chance or opportunity to go to college to be an engineer.