Liquid Body Armor

[far-trader]

Not sure if Joe Gill posts around here or not. He just posted this breaking story over on JTAS and I'm sure some of the folks here will find it of interest too, both for the game and real life.

Liquid Body Armor

 

[Flynn]

And thus we can see the beginnings of true cloth armor...

Thanks for the info,
Flynn

 

[kaladorn]

Didn't Larry Niven theorize about this? (Someone sci-fi did ... inertial armour that hardened on impact... tended to knock you down or make you stagger if you were running at the time, but protected you).

 

[mike wightman]

Yup, it's stats are in the Ringworld game. Inertial armour is also one of the armour types in Traveller 2300.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

and Gamma World...

 

[vegascat]

What are the effects on a penetration?
If the armor is penetrated by anything, it would inject the liquid into the wound. If the liquid is toxic in any way, it would make the wound much worse.
This is a problem with any type of armor.
Penetrations will happen. AS soon as a government finds out it's opponent has body armor tht can not be defeated by the weapons currently in use, it will aquire heavier weapons that penetrate that armor. Of course those new weapons will be harder to carry, shoot slower, have less ammo and make the grunts bitch more than ever. Isn't progress wonderful.

 

[jfwking]

Modern class 4 body armour will stop most every normal infantry weapon in general use (yes I know the .50 pokes holes in it, I said in general use on a battlefield at normal ranges not super snipers

) but its very heavy so until you wrap it round an exo frame we won't be seeing full suits on the battlefield. What this stuff does is offer flexible protection to the arms and legs and probable the neck. The biggest killer on modern battlefields is arty not the other sides infantry. Current body armour protects the head and torso which are the main vital area but wounds to the arm or leg still take a soldier out of action.
In terms of giving the troops bigger guns. Modern warfare is sharply divided between all out hitech war against another first world power and security/counter-terror operations against unarmoured and generaly midtech equiped enemy.
Weapons technology can be developed to beat armour then armour is improved etc etc, its the age old cycle. However against enemies equiped with mid tech and without the tech base to either develop or make such improved weapons then this armour has no counter and your troops are therefore less vunerable.
When the bad guys need to use RPGs against your infantry because everything else they have bounces off then your troops are about as well armoured as they can be.
As regards armour penetration, everything around the wound can end up contaminating it, clothes/dirt/shards of ceramic armour/kevlar strands etc etc. Unless this balistic gel is toxic it simple adds to the list and will be dealt with when the wound is cleaned at a medical point.

 

[Straybow]

"Of course those new weapons will be harder to carry, shoot slower, have less ammo and make the grunts bitch more than ever. Isn't progress wonderful."

Nope, flechettes may fit the bill.

 

[womble]

RE: Flechettes

The article claims that liquid-enhanced armour is more knifeproof than plain kevlar... that may mean flechettes are less effective against it too.

RE: Niven's inertial armour
One of the side effects of the inertial armour was depilation of the covered area as the crstals locked together to form the protective layer. As I recall, it was applied as a gel, under normal clothing.

 

[Straybow]

That's like saying medieval plate armor is effective against blunt weapons, so it should be more effective against bullets.

A knife thrust has a couple order of magnitudes less energy than a flechette…

Niven's Known Space milieu inertial armor in was a piece of coverall clothing w/helmet. If an author had gel applique armor I don't think it was Niven (I've read lots of his stuff).

 

[womble]

Straybow:

I did say {i]may[/i]. Kevlar isn't knifeproof unless it has rigid reinforcement (knife resistant, maybe). We'll have to wait until some more data are published before we can say whether this liquid stuff is effective against flechette.

 

[Straybow]

At present flechettes go through pretty much anything. I don't recall seeing data on flechette vs boron fiber composite, but the trend is on the flechette side. But since nobody actually makes flechette ammo we don't have much to worry about.

 

[womble]

Are you talking about the sub-calibre single penetrator type of high-velocity flechette, or the SCIMTR-type ones?

 

[Straybow]

Sub-caliber penetrator

 

[womble]

[nods]
Yeah, they're pretty hard to stop. I was thinking of the multiple-projectile 'shotgun' style of weapon.

 

[Burocrate]

Note re. edged weapons V kevlar type body armor:

this type of armor provides decent/moderate protection from slashing attacks. A straight thrust is another matter altogether, especially for blades designed more like an ice pick.

And don't forget your inserts boys and girls, nice steel plate sitting over your 5-ring. Like most things in life, good and bad points.

Gaming flash-back: "Stay alert, stay alive"
with all due respect to those who have served thier countries.