This foam stops bullets cold and pulverizes them to dust
Anyone who has ever had to wear body armor knows how uncomfortable it can be. The weight bogs you down, the heat and sweat make your clothes start to chafe.
The ugly truth about body armor is, the more protection you want/need; the heavier the armor becomes.
Well, this new Tech coming out of North Carolina University could change all that. According to the report, this new ballistic metal foam not only stops projectiles, it decimates them. Absorbing most of the kinetic energy transmitted to a body by an incoming projectile, this new body armor foam could most definitely be a game changer.
The development team creating this modern marvel also has plans to create foams to protect from radiation and extreme heat.
North Carolina State University Professor Afsaneh Rabiei led the team that created the amazing foam.
This is not ordinary foam like the kind used for shaving, for example. This is a special type of foam called composite metal foams, or CMF.
The military and law enforcement could use this kind of foam for advanced, ultra light body armor to protect personnel.
In tests conducted by the development team, the foam body armor was able to defeat an armor-piercing bullet. And on impact, their foam smashed the bullet into powder.
To challenge the foam material with bullets, the team built a shield. The strike face – the side facing the weapon – was made with the new composite metal foam together with boron carbide ceramics. The backplates – the side that would face the user – were made of Kevlar.
In tests, the team shot at the foam body armor with 7.62 x 63 mm M2 armor-piercing round.
The foam worked so well that an armor-piercing round could only penetrate less than an inch on the weapon-facing side of the shield. (Read More)