Sciencemadness Discussion Board

"Liquid Armor"

APO - 23-3-2013 at 18:56

Anyone know what they do to the Kevlar here? Or at least what the shear thickening fluid is composed of?

APO - 23-3-2013 at 18:57

Is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_thickening#Silica_and_pol... it?

Prometheus23 - 23-3-2013 at 21:58

The video actually tells you what it is made of at 3:10, just a third of the way into it.

You also seemed to have UTSFE and found the answer yourself just one minute later.

So I guess question answered?

violet sin - 23-3-2013 at 23:32

interesting none the less. I wonder how well it would work on other fibers? with materials that cheap and available(quick ebay check) could be fun to try. and a little more reading couldn't hurt.
google search came up with -EP 1633293 A1 (text from WO2004103231A1)-

http://www.google.com/patents/EP1633293A1?cl=en&dq=shear...

"[00026] The STF is the combination of the particles suspended in the solvent."

"[00027] The particles used can be made of various materials, such as, but not limited to, Si0 or other oxides, calcium carbonate, or polymers, such as polystyrene or polymethylmethacrylate, or other polymers from emulsion polymerization. The particles can be stabilized in solution or dispersed by charge, Brownian motion, adsorbed surfactants, and adsorbed or grafted polymers, polyelectrolytes, polyampholytes, or oligomers. Particle shapes include spherical particles, elliptical particles, or disk-like or clay particles. The particles may be synthetic and/or naturally occurring minerals. Also, the particles can be either monodisperse, bidisperse, or polydisperse in size and shape."

good reading. pants out of that stuff would be great for deer hunting. wading through fallen trees and brush can be a bit pokey.

Pyro - 24-3-2013 at 09:13

its the same principle as corn starch and water. you guts ever tried this? take a handful of corn starch and add a little water, keep adding until it's a thick paste that will flow off your hand. then roll it between them until it's a ball. it will fell hard until you stop rolling it!

violet sin - 24-3-2013 at 13:04

Ya as a kid we use to make ziploc bags with a little cornstarch mix, simple but ammusing. in the reading I did(cited above), they mentioned different thread types layered or woven, to provide more ballistics protection. Something about nylon being good b/c of a rougher surface. They also mentioned surface treatements to roughen kevlar. Think it made for more resistive mats rather than just a shell that deforms but won't puncture. Which still hurts.

So seems really easy to get some scrap nylon etc. from a thrift store and put it in a ziplock bag for a few tests. I'm sure there are FAR better methods! So many cheap materials. Now I am not saying any one is going to make a BP vest. But the effect should be easy to see.
Edited-spelling-

[Edited on 24-3-2013 by violet sin]