If ballistic test results are anything to go by, then scientists may have discovered a new material that could be used for bulletproofing purposes. Discovered in 2010 by researchers from the University of Manchester in the UK, graphene was found by scientists to have the capability to be used for armor technology.
During tests, tiny silica spheres were shot at the graphene material – and researchers found that graphene’s layer just an atom thick is much stronger than steel when impacted by ballistic test shots. A sheet of atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern, graphene provides a flexible as well as strong material that transforms and other related technologies – and this makes it a good material to conduct electricity.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst observed with lasers as microbullets were fired at 10-100 layers of graphene sheets arranged over one another. The observers found that measured energy spheres made on the graphene material before and after the shots dissipated by stretching into a cone shape before cracking. This means only one thing: graphene has the great elasticity of absorbing 8 to 10 times the impact of steel.
Although the UK Manchester University team that discovered graphene in won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, a latest discovery just last week showed that particles of proton could pass through graphene materials and this makes it a good candidate for improving hydrogen fuel cells. Made essentially of carbon, graphene is an almost transparent sheet with the ability to conduct electricity as well used for anti-ballistic armor technology, and this makes it a highly two-dimensional material that reacts with light and other properties.
I just want to know how many layers does it take to stop a 7.62×39 round and what that would cost per square foot.