A new body armor made out of liquid is being touted as “better than Kevlar” for both comfort and bullet-stopping capabilities. The armor is made from a liquid called Shear-Thickening Fluid or STF.
According to Reuters , Polish researchers have designed a new bullet-proof body armor from a non-Newtonian liquid. The liquid is unlike standard Newtonian liquids like water, which changes from liquid to solid based on temperature. Instead, a non-Newtonian liquid such as STF does not adhere to the same laws. The STF changes from liquid to solid upon impact.
Therefore, if something hits the STF with great force, such as a bullet, the liquid turns to its solid state, hardening upon impact. Therefore, Polish researchers used the liquid to create light-weight pieces of body armor that they claim provide higher safety levels than traditional body armor, such as Kevlar . Marcin Struszczyk, the deputy director for research at the Moratex Institute, the company making the liquid armor, notes that the safety increase comes from the deflection capabilities.
“If a protective vest is fitted to the body, then a four centimeter deep deflection may cause injury to the sternum, sternum fracture, myocardial infarction, lethal damage to the spleen. Thanks to the properties of the liquid, thanks to the proper formation of the insert, we eliminate one hundred percent of this threat because we have reduced the deflection from four centimeters to one centimeter.”
It was also noted that the liquid allows for wearers to have a normal range of motion. Therefore, those wearing liquid body armor would be able to move more effectively than those in a Kevlar counterpart.
In the video above , you can watch and see in slow-motion exactly how the liquid body armor works. Would you trust liquid body armor to provide bullet-proofing capabilities?
