1 / 15

Superman Suit: Futuristic Body Armor

Explore the use of carbon nanotubes in bulletproof vests for enhanced protection. Learn how nanotubes deflect energy, prevent trauma, and offer superior ballistic resistance. Experimental testing and macroscopic applications are discussed.

mkwan
Download Presentation

Superman Suit: Futuristic Body Armor

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Superman Suit: Futuristic Body Armor Presented By: Jonathan Boulanger Emma Lecours Sarah Xu Megan Swain

  2. Outline • Current bulletproof vests • Why put carbon nanotubes in bulletproof vests? • Experimental testing • Extension to macroscopic • Conclusion

  3. Current Bullet-Proof Vests • Made of layered fibrous material • Absorbs and disperses the energy of the projectile • Slows and stops the bullet

  4. Current Materials • Kevlar • Many strong bonds between chains • Twaron • nearly identical chemical structure to Kevlar • Dyneema (Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) • extremely long polymer chains (n>100 000) • load transferred to polymer backbone

  5. Problems with Current Bullet-Proof Vests • Wearer is forced to absorb the energy of the projectile • Blunt force trauma can occur • wind knocked out of the wearer • bruising of the skin • injuries to the internal organs (possibly fatal) • Superior vest would deflect the energy of the bullet away from the wearer

  6. Why Carbon Nanotubes? • High modulus of elasticity (~1 TPa) • High strain to yield (up to 40% in tensile) • Multiple deformation modes: • Elongation of hexagonal structure • High defect mobility of 5-7 ring defects • Stepwise diameter reduction • Tube collapse • Necking

  7. Carbon Nanotube Deformation [2]

  8. Experimental Procedure • Computer simulation to model nanotube deformation • Uses Tersoff-Brenner potential • Diamond bullet

  9. Maximum absorption energy • Highest in center of fixed end CNT • Does not vary significantly with radius • Varies linearly with length of nanotube

  10. Absorption Energy • Bounce back time the same • Needs 12.5ps to ‘recover’

  11. Extension to Macroscopic Applications • Variations in atomic structure of CNTs with same diameters only depend on their different lengths. • Macroscopic response can be approximated from microscopic calculations. • A revolver bullet typically has a damage area of 0.652 cm^2 and energy of 320J. • If a bundle (yarn) has a 100 μm diameter (5 X 10^9 nanotubes ), it should be able to absorb 0.344J. • Therefore 6 layers of woven fabric composed of 180 nanotube yarns (0.9cm) will be sufficient, which corresponds to a thickness of 600 μm

  12. Conclusions • Carbon nanotubes have great potential • Large capacity to store elastic energy without deforming • Repeated impacts possible (12.5 ps limit) • Only computer simulations so far • According to assumptions, will scale well into the macroscale • If assumptions hold, 600 μm woven CNT yarns will be sufficient to repel bullets

  13. References • Ajayan, P. M. (1999). Nanotubes from carbon. Chemical Reviews, 99(7), 1787. • Mylvaganam, K., & Zhang, L. C. (2007). Ballistic resistance capacity of carbon nanotubes. Nanotechnology, 18(47), 475701.

  14. Questions?

More Related