Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a material that could lead to the next generation of bulletproof vests: a nanofiber-based structure that is tougher than Kevlar and can be stretched to seven times its original length.
According to Gizmodo, the new fiber absorbs energy using its electromechanical properties, and while Kevlar can absorb up to 80 joules per gram before it breaks, the UT Dallas team’s material is capable of withstanding up to 98 joules per gram. The team hopes that their structures will one day be used in military aircraft, body armor, or other defense-related applications.
The new material, which is described in a new ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces paper, could be used to form material that is capable of reinforcing itself at points of high stress, the researchers said. To create it, they twisted nanofibers into coils and yarns, which generated enough electricity to create a bond 10 times stronger than that of a hydrogen bond.
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Drawing inspiration from the piezoelectric action observed in collagen fibers found in human bones, they spun polyvinylidene fluoride and polyvinvylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene (both piezoelectric materials) into nanofibers, then twisted them into yards, Gizmodo said. Couldn’t they have simpler names?
The electrical charge created when the polymer-based yards are stretched causes the strands to attract back in on themselves, resulting in a material that can absorb tremendous amounts of energy before failing, the website added. The UT Texas team now hopes to find a way to mass-produce the nanofibers so that they can be used to create higher-quality armor in the future.
“We reproduced this process in nanofibers by manipulating the creation of electric charges to result in a lightweight, flexible, yet strong material,” said senior author Dr. Majid Minary, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the university’s Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. “Our country needs such materials on a large scale for industrial and defense applications.”
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“It’s literally twisting, the same basic process used in making conventional cable,” he added. “Our experiment is proof of the concept that our structures can absorb more energy before failure than the materials conventionally used in bulletproof armors. We believe, modeled after the human bone, that this flexibility and strength comes from the electricity that occurs when these nanofibers are twisted.”
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