Nanofibers have entered into the development of protective materials. For example, recently, material scientists developed a new material with impressive properties that is made from Kevlar nanofibers mixed with polyhedral carbon nanotubes which is great at absorbing projectile energy while being incredibly light.
Image by Roberto Lee Cortes from Pixabay
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Kevlar – which is made from para-aramid fibers – has a good number of interesting properties including high strength and durability against heat and chemicals. Kevlar is often used to create armors and helmets and not only for military but also for civilian use. It is also used as reinforcement of composite materials for transportation devices and various equipment, to make building materials, filters, and many other types of products. But it seems Kevlar finally found its superior.
Experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison created a nanofiber material that surpasses other commonly used materials when protecting against projectiles. To put it simply, it is more than bulletproof. As Ramathasan Thevamaran – the research lead – says, their nanofiber material far surpasses other materials used to protect from projectiles mostly because of its incredibly low weight.
Thevamaran and his coworkers mixed polyhedral carbon nanotubes – essentially several plates of graphene rolled up into a roll with Kevlar nanofibers. This created a nanofiber material that is great at absorbing energy from projectiles faster than the speed of sound.
The research opens the door for the use of carbon nanotubes to develop light but also highly durable protective materials. They could be used as part of personal armor or in the cosmic industry where such materials could protect satellites from smaller pieces of orbital waste. Especially since another benefit of the new material is its durability against extreme temperatures – both high and low.
As you can see, nanofiber materials are promising as protection in various applications. They come with exceptional strength, rigidity, and puncture resistance. Much better than the currently used macro-fibers. The material based on carbon nanofibers has so far shown it is the best at absorbing projectile energy.
The scientists achieved this by tuning the composition of the material as at a certain ratio of Kevlar nanofibers and carbon nanotubes the individual nanofibers intertwine through hydrogen bonds. These bonds are dynamic and constantly get disrupted and created again allowing the material to absorb and spread a large amount of energy.
The researchers tested their new material with fire. Well, with a special system that allows firing of microprojectiles with laser on different types of material. The tests can be highly controlled and shot with a precisely defined speed ranging from 100 meters per second to 1 kilometer per second.
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