Flexible Body Armor 210
dotmax writes "One item to pop out of the Turin Winter Olympics is the use of flexible body armor. Similar to silly putty, this shear rate material is flexible under normal load and hardens under impact. Sounds expensive, but could offer some great alternatives for traditional hard shelled impact gear in active sports and military applications."
Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2, Insightful)
Try telling a downhill skiier crashing into a wall at over 100 MPH that there are body parts that don't flex. I'm sure they'll happily believe you and give up their armor.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:4, Insightful)
But I don't quite follow. The grandparent poster was skeptical about the value of flexible armor over parts that should never bend. If your shin is bending significantly, your shin's probably broken.
Flexible armor is useful over flexing parts of your body so that you can get maximum utility. Like a flexible elbow pad, it'd let you bend your elbow easier and more powerfully. But over your non-bending shin, you'd just want the strongest protection possible here right? Shouldn't be any cases where your shin is bending.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:5, Informative)
But I don't quite follow. The grandparent poster was skeptical about the value of flexible armor over parts that should never bend. If your shin is bending significantly, your shin's probably broken.
Close your left hand over your right lower arm. Now turn move your hand left and right, up and down, flex the muscles... that thing moves a lot. The shin likewise has muscles and two bones in it. Apparently the sporters like this flexible thing better than rigid protectors, so it seems to help.
Why the poster calls this "body armor" i'm not sure though, according to TFA this is purely about shin and arm protection, the areas that get into contact with the sticks during slalom skiing.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Consider putting it over your upper arm. Your bicep flexes, the bone underneath does not. But if you've ever hit a gate at high speed, you'd LOVE some armor over your upper arm.
A rigid plate works, but is much harder to work with. A flexible plate, that moves as your muscles contract, would be a lot better.
Your tibia doesn't flex (a lot), but the skin and muscle between the bone and the outside world does.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
1) It is most likely lighter than hardened armor.
2) While a shin won't bend, it will most likely twist and the muscles flex. This armor allows the user to have protection without gaps that would normally allow the user to move their bodies the way they need to to get down the hill fastest.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2, Insightful)
I.e., you come hurtling at a wall.. you smack your shin on the corner.. the armour hardens to reduce impact inertia, therefore reducing impact on the bone and reducing the chances of a breakage. It's not bruises that kill the skiiers career, it's shattered bones
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
1. Does it stop bullets?
2. Does it come in black?
If the answer to those two questions is yes, count me in for one if the price tag is less than five digits.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:3, Insightful)
Try telling a downhill skiier crashing into a wall at over 100 MPH that there are body parts that don't flex.
I doubt this stuff is going to have much protection against hitting a wall at 100MPH. The article says that racers are using this stuff on their arms and legs to protect against hitting the poles. I'm sure without protection hitting those poles as hard as they do is going to hurt like hell. If you hit a wall at 100mph, no amount of body armour is going to save you, as all your internal organs are
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:5, Funny)
And that's why skiers whould wear personal airbags!
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Sounds like a government mandate just waiting to happen. Won't somebody think of the children?
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Sounds like a government mandate just waiting to happen. Won't somebody think of the children?
Nah, they weigh too much.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
but perhaps you missed THE OPENING SENTENCE :
A futuristic flexible material that instantly hardens into armour upon impact will protect US and Canadian skiers from injury on the slalom runs at this year's Winter Olympics.
RTFA idiot
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2, Insightful)
The point of flexible armour (Score:2, Interesting)
Having rigid plates even on parts of the body that flex less is bulky and cumbersome. Flexible armour is a great concept - far less noticable in normal conditions than some of the rigid ski body armour solutions e.g. Dainese [snowboard-asylum.com]
BTW For the pseudo science and some nice pictures of 'molecules' see the 3DO website [d3olab.com]
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:5, Interesting)
FWIW, this stuff sounds like what happens to a semi-liquid mix of cornstarch and water. Slide your hand in and it drops into the fluid; hit it hard and no penetration at all.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
What was in Hiro's armor? Some kind of sintered unobtanium?
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
I used to ski race as a kid... (Score:5, Informative)
So, as far as I am concerned, flexible armor is totally the way to go. Hopefully FIS won't ban it.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
A futuristic flexible material that instantly hardens into armour upon impact will protect US and Canadian skiers from injury on the slalom runs at this year's Winter Olympics.
Re:Meh... Color me unimpressed. (Score:2)
I'd love something like this for baseball or softball.
This stuff does look really cool. (Score:5, Funny)
"Honest, officer, we just came across him and he was beaten to a pulp. You can search us, go ahead, we ain't got nothin' but our gym towels..."
Re:This stuff does look really cool. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This stuff does look really cool. (Score:2)
Karatand (Score:2)
At any rate, like the book mentions in passing... just make a glove out of this material. I think the book's version was a half-glove (covering the palm and only part of the fingers) so you can do delicate work with your hands, but if you threw a fist or simply chopped... instant brass knuckles at the point of contact.
Depending on how good this material is, a full body suit may be incredibly usefu
Re:Karatand (Score:2)
Re:Karatand (Score:2)
impressive? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:impressive? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:impressive? (Score:2)
any reason (Score:2, Offtopic)
could this be some geek-inventor's (redundant, i know) idea of making his childhood dream of being a superhero come true?
Re:any reason (Score:3, Informative)
"Good jib Jimbo!" *slap* (Score:5, Funny)
*Disclaimer: May be exaggerated
Not for military really.. except maybe supplement (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not for military really.. except maybe suppleme (Score:2)
Re:Not for military really.. except maybe suppleme (Score:2)
Re:Not for military really.. except maybe suppleme (Score:2)
However, d3o could be very useful in non-military bullet proof vests. Currently, a round can be stopped by kevlar but it still penetrates the body and effectively immobilizes whoever gets hit. A layer of d3o could help dissipate the energy over a larger area and prevent serious damage
Re:Not for military really.. except maybe suppleme (Score:2)
Re:Not for military really.. except maybe suppleme (Score:2)
I could imagine stuff like this acting like a fluid and work better than traditional plate armor. It would definitely be an interesting experiment.
Spy cameras? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Spy cameras? (Score:2)
Viagra Replacement? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Viagra Replacement? (Score:2)
It will never sell (Score:2)
Well, I guess some men would like it (shudder).
myke
Difficult to measure material's properties? (Score:4, Insightful)
Certainly a researcher could take a sample of this material and strike it with increasing force using a material with known hardness. That might get them an answer beyond: "we don't know." I'm skeptical of this material's utility in a military application. Particularly as body armor against high velocity bullets and shrapnel. Woven carbon and Kevlar seem still unmatched in its capacity to take a high impact round. But, like I said, an assault riffle and a material sample could answer that question in minutes...
Re:Difficult to measure material's properties? (Score:2)
Re:Difficult to measure material's properties? (Score:2)
There's a lot of applications for this type of material
But I don't think it'll replace Kevlar & carbon fiber.
Even the Army's current Kevlar helmets won't actually stop any military rounds. If you're lucky, the bullet will come in at an angle and get deflected, but that's about all the use those heavy helmets are good for. Deflecting bullets and wo
Re:Difficult to measure material's properties? (Score:2)
Re:Difficult to measure material's properties? (Score:2, Insightful)
Reaction time in the material (Score:2, Interesting)
The material's reaction time is probably related to how fast the shock-wave of the hit travels through the material. For the sake of arguement: The of the impact shockwave travels through the suit at the same speed sounds travels in water (sound is a shockwave). So it travels roughly 1482 m/s. So the shockwave would take roughly 0.0001 seconds to travel across my entire chest. Modern bullets can travel roughly the same speeds. In that same 0.0001 seconds a bullet would be several inc
Used with Kevlar. (Score:2)
Iain M. Banks (Score:5, Funny)
Could be great for inline skating, etc (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I don't wear pads because they're uncomfortable. I do wear a helmet and palm sliders, which are supposed to help keep your palms from getting skinned up in an actual fall by serving as a buffer between your palms and the asphalt. In theory, they work pretty good. When you fall going upwards of 30MPH, they aren't a lot of help. Once you hit the ground, even if you initially brace with your palms, momentum is pretty much going to send you wherever it wants.
Being able to wear a long sleeved shirt or pants made of this stuff to help protect the knees and elbows would be huge. I have a road rash spot on my elbow now from a fall last weekend. Granted I don't fall much.. that was the first time in over a year I've had a crash and it was a very minor crash but even still, I'd probably wear this stuff for safety if it was available and not terribly bulky. Most inliners who are serious wear skin suits or jerseys so substituting this stuff would pretty much have no downsides as long as, like I said, it wasn't too bulky.
On the flip side, most skateboarders want to look "extreme" so this stuff might not be a huge hit with them. I personally like my skin intact, however.
Sounds like non-Newtonian fluid (Score:5, Informative)
This was one of the cooler demonstration in my HS chemistry class, the teacher made up a big batch of water + corn starch, and was playing with it like mud, squishing it around and whatnot. Then he beat the hell out of it, and it just sat there and didn't splash, it looked (and sounded) like it was a solid sheet. It was odd to see something that was very dynamic under low force, but static under high force.
It's like a seatbelt, if you yank it hard it locks up, but if you pull gently it will extend.
Re:Sounds like non-Newtonian fluid (Score:5, Informative)
Corn starch is the standard example almost everyone uses when trying to describe our field to laymen. The other one we use a lot is the term "squishy physics", but that one sometimes gets us mocked by the ignorant who think "nuclear physics" is for smart people and "squishy physics" is for the dumbasses.
Re:Sounds like non-Newtonian fluid (Score:2)
This material has a very unusual hardening property. Possibly it is a non-newtonian liquid, but if it is, then that is not what is remarkable about it.
Tor
Re:Sounds like non-Newtonian fluid (Score:2)
custard (Score:2)
anywho, about the custard, if you mix custard powder with water (I'm not sure of exact quant
Re:custard (Score:2)
I still remember the day that my dad showed me this. I freaked!
Why shots penetrating the vest is a Bad Thing. (Score:2, Insightful)
Let us assume that you are about to be shot in the chest with a 12 gauge 3.5" super-magnum slug, which is overkill for anything short of a bear, or maybe a truck. Let's also assume that you have the option of either wearing the thinnest vest that will stop that slug or nothing at all.
If you wear the vest then when the slug hits it'll dump all it's energy into your chest. You'll sustain massive blunt trauma on the level of getting smacked with a sledgehammer. Lots of broken ribs, lots of bruising, possibly
powdered glass (Score:5, Interesting)
-russ
Re:powdered glass (Score:2)
Needs to be like Flubber (Score:2, Funny)
If it were more like Flubber (if you remember this you are an old geek) the projectiles would bounce back at the source.
Re:Needs to be like Flubber (Score:2)
Get off my lawn.
Re:Needs to be like Flubber (Score:2)
Unimpressive. (Score:2)
It would make for interesting armor... (Score:2)
Larry Niven's impact armor (Score:2)
Re:Larry Niven's impact armor (Score:2, Informative)
This is a truly oustanding book that should be digested by geeks everywhere. The political and social points are even more relevant today that 30+ years ago.
$14,000 Hammers (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:$14,000 Hammers (Score:2)
Very useful (Score:3, Funny)
It would also help for when I want to be impertinent to feminists.
Getting the wrong impression (Score:5, Insightful)
Cool idea. But probably not particularly practical in other applications (maybe useful for kendo??? -- but the armour's way cool, so why change
Re:Getting the wrong impression (Score:2)
I remember that as a kid our fencing teacher was always saying to go fast but without weight in saber fencing, but the reality is that kids go 'banzaï' with the saber and that you have to put an additionnal sweat shirt to reduce the pain.
Being wacked with a slalom pole or a saber seems similar so it should work for the body, of course not the helmet..
Might be useful for bikers (Score:2)
I guess it wouldn't do for helmet padding, which compresses to suck up the force that would otherwise go to the head. (Easier to buy a new helmet than a new head.)
Re:Might be useful for bikers (Score:2)
Proof that there needs to be a yearly drivers test to keep your license.
Neat but... why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Kinda cool, but what is the point of scaleable soundproofing? If you want something to be soundproof, why would it need to ever increase or decrease sound proofability? Why not just make it as soundpr
Re:Neat but... why? (Score:2)
Article summary is wrong - as usual (Score:2)
This is a material which changes it's properties depending on HOW FAST you try to deform it. Specifically, this material is capable of changing from a soft, gooey phase, to a rigid, hard phase instantly just because you attempt to deform the material more quickly than the rate at which the gooey to rigid transformation occu
Usages (Score:2)
Basicaly if it'll protect a skier zipping downhill and whacking into a fiberglass pole, then it ought to help a SCAdian against another chap with bit of a stick.
Phoenix
The slow blade penetrates the shield (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How good is it? (Score:2)
Maybe this is why people don't like hanging out with geeks... no fucking common sense.
Re:Which Olympics? (Score:2)
Stand On Zanzibar (Score:2)
Re:Useless for skiing (Score:2)
For GS and Slalom, if you suck at knocking poles away, it might be nice to have on your hips and shoulders,
Re:Useless for skiing (Score:2)
Re:Hard != Protective (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hard != Protective (Score:3, Informative)
I am a competitive alpine ski racer. Watch the slalom (SL) events in the Olympics and you will see that every athlete wears hard protective equipment on his poles (to protect his hands), his shins, and usually on his head. This is because the tightest, shortest, fastest line down the course involves literally running over the gate. The athlete generally "cross-bloc