A new polymer composite can absorb the impact from high-velocity projectiles and instantly repair itself. The super soldier of the future will be outfitted in razor-thin armor that is impervious to bullets developed with a special ballistics material that is only 20 nanometers thick (a water molecule is just one-nanometer wide) and can stop a deadly projectile in its tracks.
该材料是由赖斯大学和麻省理工学院的研究人员发现的。在MIT士兵纳米技术研究所对材料进行弹道测试时，这20纳米厚的层能够停止9毫米子弹并密封其后面的入口。该材料是由交替的橡胶和玻璃层制成的结构化聚合物复合材料，可以通过惊人的效率从高冲击力突击中吸收动能。制造更薄更轻的防护装备的挑战之一是能够在实验室中有效测试新的有希望的材料。研究人员需要确切地知道为什么那些纳米层如此擅长耗散能量。为此，必须分析聚合物，这可能需要几天。因此，MIT-RICE团队还提出了一种创新的测试方法，在那里他们向材料拍摄了微小的玻璃珠。尽管珠子的大小只有一百万米，但它们模拟了子弹撞击。在测试过程中，研究人员用微小的玻璃珠爆破了它，从而模拟了9毫米子弹的影响。超薄层在其路径上停止了弹丸，并在嵌入式珠子周围密封。 When the composite is hit, it quickly melts into a liquid before instantaneously hardening to close up the resulting damage. That means that there are no structural deformities to deal with, no macroscopic damage; the material does not fail and it does not crack- making it a candidate for a great ballistic windshield material. Under a scanning electron microscope the material's layers look like corduroy so the projectile impact can be seen clearly. In addition to yielding better body armor for soldiers and police, the composite could potentially provide more resilient outer layers for spacecraft to ward off meteorite fragments and other space debris, and more durable jet-turbine blades.