MythBuster Developing Light-Weight Vehicle Armor

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."

Comments

Re:"Bulletproof glass" mistake?

[CAIMLAS]

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.