What about a body armor that repairs itself after a gunshot or a knife stab? I watch too much G.I.JOE and i saw that even that the body armor they had in the movie did everything you could think off, jump two stores high or fire tiny missiles the body armors just wouldn't repair themselves thus turning it's user impotent when someone damaged their suit. So what if you could make this body armor repair itself using scientific methodology? Then G.I.JOE could kill the damn cobra!
See a a new material developed by Dutch scientists has made its way into soft body armor. Dyneema SB61 is a fiber made from an extremely high grade of the common plastic polyethylene.It is the simplest of the plastics. Polyethylene molecules are long chains that can be branched or straight. The length and straightness of the chains and the purity of the plastic determines how strong it is. High grade polyethylene has been used to make bulletproof vests for years, but this new material is stronger pound for pound than everything else on the market.
Some other scientists invented this:
A Self-healer: Modeled on human skin, a new material that heals itself multiple times is made of two layers. The polymer coating on top contains tiny catalyst pieces scattered throughout. The substrate contains a network of microchannels carrying a liquid healing agent. When the coating cracks, the cracks spread downward and reach the underlying channels, which ooze out healing agent. The agent mixes with the catalyst and forms a polymer, filling in the cracks.
When the material is bent and cracked, liquid rushes up the channels and into the breach, mixing with the catalyst to re-form the epoxy.
The first-generation polymers can heal themselves seven times, and refinements may boost that number, and even be refilled with consumer-ready catalysts and healing agents.
So if you combine these two technologies together, there you have a super body armor that can heal itself 7 times per fill. They may invent, in the future, quick refills that you connect to the armor for more armor heals! Ideal for robotic body armors.-- sfx, Oct 12 2009 http://www.technolo...e.aspx?id=18841&a=f [sfx, Oct 12 2009] http://www.sfx.gr/ [sfx, Oct 12 2009] http://www.aer.bris...cademic/bond2.shtml [sfx, Oct 12 2009] http://news.thomasn...companystory/496465 [sfx, Oct 12 2009] Liquid Armor In Two Flavors: Shear Thickening and Magnetorheological http://www.technove...ews.asp?NewsNum=108STF is in use today and can provide a 14 fold improvement over standard Kevlar. [MisterQED, Oct 12 2009] //thus turning it's user impotent when someone damaged their suit// I think you need to cure the impotence problem - sure, tough guys like fighting crime, but at what cost!?-- zen_tom, Oct 12 2009 Dyneema/Spectra is strong only when oriented in one direction. If you could heal it in this fashion, it would be cosmetic, not functional. This idea might work better with polycarbonate panels.-- ldischler, Oct 12 2009 I don't know if polycarbonate panel will work but i found some interesting information on how does a one-way bulletproof glass work:
One-way bulletproof glass is composed of two layers. The outside layer – on the threat side – is made of a brittle glass and the inside layer is a flexible polycarbonate. A bullet that strikes the brittle external layer first causes the glass to break inward toward the ->polycarbonate<- layer. The glass breaking absorbs some of the bullet’s energy by spreading the force over a larger area and the flexible polycarbonate stops the bullet.
Bullets shot from the inside of an armored car are able to penetrate the bulletproof glass because they strike the polycarbonate layer first with more focused energy. The brittle glass layer then breaks outward allowing the bullet to pass through with minor energy loss.
So if i think correctly it will mend it self but not to full extend and the second shot will penetrate the polycarbonate layer.
I also found this that another bullet-proof panel is comprising an outer panel of polycarbonate resin, a middle panel of ceramic tile and a second sheet of polycarbonate resin attached thereto, all of said layers being bonded together by a polyurethane adhesive. In the second embodiment of the present invention useful for preventing the penetration of high-velocity bullets, a third layer of polycarbonate resin is attached to the second layer of polycarbonate resin.
This is better i think if the polycarbonate mends itself then the bullets won't penetrate of course someone with more knowledge may develop a better layer structure.
@zen_tom Yes impotency is commonly found in G.I.JOE soldiers.May be because of all the JI-A-IJO screams and the transformers outlook.-- sfx, Oct 12 2009 I agree with [ldischer], the Dyneema/Spectra is strong only because it is composed of enormously long unbroken chains of hydrocarbons. Any "healing" would need to include reconnecting those chains. So (-).
For a real solution, I have read they have taught virii to assemble microscopic battery components. If your patch could include virii or other nano level repair systems then it would have real value.
As the above solution is probably beyond current tech so you can look to two other technologies dilitants/STF (shear thickening fluids) and Magnetorheological fluids for real solutions. See link.-- MisterQED, Oct 12 2009 thanks for the link./-- sfx, Oct 13 2009 I've seen in ripley's unbelievable show that some guys at some university invented a material that when subjected to voltage would contract itself and this is how it copied the muscle's function, they even made a robotic arm with it and said it was many times stronger than human muscle, if they could exploit this material then they could make something like a robotic armor that is both durable and strong! I know that is kind of off limits but what the heck, it is possible.-- sfx, Oct 13 2009 random, halfbakery