Liquid armor: the essence and possibilities for combat equipment

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

During the battle, bullets and shell fragments pose a serious threat to the he alth and life of soldiers. In order to protect personnel, already during the First World War, attempts were made to create effective means of protection. During the Great Patriotic War, the elite units of the Red Army were equipped with armored cuirasses, which had insignificant protective properties. Due to its heavy weight, the armored cuirass was too restrictive for the fighter's movements. Soon the first bulletproof vests appeared. Over the past decades, this protective agent has evolved intensively. However, as practice has shown, metal, Kevlar and combined bulletproof vests have drawbacks that should be improved. Today in Russia, the United States and Great Britain, scientists are working to create such a substance? like liquid armor. What it is? What is it for? This article will help you find answers to these questions.

A bit of history

The armored cuirasses were replaced by bulletproof vests. These protectiveproducts based on lead plates. Compared to previous products, “armor”, as the military often calls them, had better protective properties, but weighed 20 kg, which was their significant drawback. Gunsmiths have repeatedly made attempts to create body armor based on ancient developments. However, with lamellar armor, the protective properties were not fully provided. With the advent of Kevlar, the weight problem was partly solved. In addition, judging by the reviews, Kevlar body armor is very easy to use. It would seem that the problem is solved and you can stop there. However, scientists went further and decided to use nanotechnology in the production of protective equipment. Liquid armor, according to experts, is now considered the substance that they plan to replace lead and Kevlar in the near future.

Tasks assigned to military scientists

According to experts, the strength, even of Kevlar armor, is directly proportional to the mass and has its limit. The fighter will be reliably protected from a bullet, no matter how great the penetrating power it possesses, if he is dressed in heavy armor. In the production of conventional bulletproof vests, multilayer Kevlar is used. Also in protective equipment there are additional metal and ceramic tabs. The mass of Kevlar armor from 20 kg, as it was in lead, was reduced to 11 kg, which also significantly limits movement. With ammunition, weapons and food, a fighter in 11-kilogram armor is under a heavy load. Therefore, the task of weight-strength”is one of the most relevant for military scientists in some countries. The invention of liquid armor was a breakthrough in the creation of personal protective equipment.

Introducing new material

Liquid armor is a special substance, namely a colloidal solution containing solid nanoparticles. This concept, which allows replacing armor plates and protective fabrics with a liquid, is common for countries such as Russia, the USA and England. The differences affected only its implementation.

What's the point?

As military experts are convinced, liquid armor for bulletproof vests is ideal. In creating new means of protection, it was decided to use the feature of a colloidal substance, which is the ability of the gel to quickly harden.

Thus, if a bullet hits this liquid, an impulse is formed that will transfer its energy to the gel. As a result, the liquid armor will harden. A similar effect is also observed if the energy is generated not from a bullet, but from a sharp blow. How quickly hardening occurs depends on how hard it was applied.

About Russian development

Liquid armor, as new bulletproof vests are also informally called, has been developed in Russia by the Yekaterinburg Venture Fund of the military-industrial complex since 2006. According to military experts, a new type of bulletproof vests will appear on the market in the near future. Liquid armor is a protective gel that contains liquid filler and solid nanoparticles. Atif a bullet hits the armor, they will quickly grab. The result will be the formation of a solid composite material. This feature of the gel is possible only if it interacts with a special tissue. Information about what kind of material it is and what structure it has has not yet been disclosed by Russian developers.

On the virtues of protective gel

If we compare standard body armor with liquid armor, the latter has one significant advantage - upon impact, energy is not concentrated at one point, but, on the contrary, it is distributed over the entire surface of the tissue. As a result, in addition to pleasing significantly improved protective characteristics, bruises and bruises on the body of a fighter are excluded with new body armor. Quite the opposite effect was observed with conventional lead and Kevlar body armor.

On the weaknesses of protective equipment

Despite having undeniable advantages, liquid armor is not without some disadvantages. According to experts, several samples have already been created, but they have shown themselves positively only with a small-caliber bullet. A new type of body armor will not withstand a sniper rifle or machine gun. In addition, scientists noted that if water gets on the armor, it will lose its protective properties by about 40%. Initially, this fact was a problem for Russian developers. But then they decided to use a moisture-proof film, which contains a new body armor. Additionally, for liquid armor, a special water-repellent composition, invented earlier, is provided. It covers the means of protection before the premisesin film.

Liquid insulation "Armor"

And in conclusion - a little about the other armor. Today, in building materials stores, a lot of various heaters are presented to the attention of consumers. Judging by the numerous reviews, Bronya liquid thermal insulation is very popular.

This substance is a suspension, outwardly practically indistinguishable from white acrylic paint. Apply to surfaces with conventional brushes or airless sprayers. In the liquid state, before polymerization, it resembles paint, but when it dries, it forms a special coating, which has unique thermal insulation properties.