Shock-Dissipating Fractal Cubes Could Forge High-Tech Armor (phys.org) 49
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Tiny, 3-D printed cubes of plastic, with intricate fractal voids built into them, have proven to be effective at dissipating shockwaves, potentially leading to new types of lightweight armor and structural materials effective against explosions and impacts. "The goal of the work is to manipulate the wave interactions resulting from a shockwave," said Dana Dattelbaum, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author on a paper to appear in the journal AIP Advances. "The guiding principles for how to do so have not been well defined, certainly less so compared to mechanical deformation of additively manufactured materials. We're defining those principles, due to advanced, mesoscale manufacturing and design."
The researchers tested their fractal structures by firing an impactor into them at approximately 670 miles per hour. The structured cubes dissipated the shocks five times better than solid cubes of the same material. Although effective, it's not clear that the fractal structure is the best shock-dissipating design. The researchers are investigating other void- or interface-based patterns in search of ideal structures to dissipate shocks. New optimization algorithms will guide their work to structures outside of those that consist of regular, repeating structures. Potential applications might include structural supports and protective layers for vehicles, helmets, or other human-wearable protection. The research will be published in the July 2020 issue of AIP Advances.
The researchers tested their fractal structures by firing an impactor into them at approximately 670 miles per hour. The structured cubes dissipated the shocks five times better than solid cubes of the same material. Although effective, it's not clear that the fractal structure is the best shock-dissipating design. The researchers are investigating other void- or interface-based patterns in search of ideal structures to dissipate shocks. New optimization algorithms will guide their work to structures outside of those that consist of regular, repeating structures. Potential applications might include structural supports and protective layers for vehicles, helmets, or other human-wearable protection. The research will be published in the July 2020 issue of AIP Advances.
Forged Armor (Score:2)
No thanks, I don't want forged armor. I'm only taking the real mccoy, injection molded.
Will this help against campers? (Score:2)
Everyone hates campers.
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Everyone hates campers.
It might help when some fucking BLM idiot tries to shoot at you.
I agree that most of the Bureau of Land Management agents are stupid, but they rarely shoot people, and if one of them does decide to shoot at me, how will it help if I'm in a camper? I mean, the sides of campers are thin aluminum or fiberglass, no way they're going to block a bullet. I suppose they provide some concealment (assuming I'm not in front of a window).
Oh, and why does everyone hate campers? Camp trailers are usually roomier, and, sure, tent or primitive camping is more "real" camping, but cam
Re: Will this help against campers? (Score:3)
In the real world, *everyone* is a camper.
Because you know what you call a non-camper? A dead moron!
In the real world, everybody hates armchair online warriors.
Luckily, they never leave their basement. (Aka camp in private life.)
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In a battle, why wouldn't you target an ingress point of your enemy?
"If you find yourself in a fair fight, you haven't done your homework."
Well duh! (Score:2)
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Well, that's four minutes of my life I'll never get back. Or, perhaps each minute was simultan!...no...they're lost.
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Earth has 4 corner simultaneous 4-day TIME CUBE! Now imagine a suit of armor from that.
Well, that's four minutes of my life I'll never get back. Or, perhaps each minute was simultan!...no...they're lost.
The Wikipedia article is a pale shadow of the original site. It went on for days. Consider yourself lucky.
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Some things are best learned via wiki.
You've got it backwards (Score:2)
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TIME CUBE is an illusion. Lunchtime octally so.
Five times better than solid material.... (Score:2)
So, uhmm..... not holding my breath for anything special here.
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Re: Five times better than solid material.... (Score:3)
"just plastic"
1. And what do you think kevlar is?
2. Plastic is just polymers of molecules of certain atoms. Arrange those same atoms or molecules differently, and you got something very different.
2. Do you not even realize that this concept is independent of the material used, and the only point is "arrange your material in this way, and it will be more than five times stronger"?
Did you forget your coffee? ;)
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Plastics burn, even kevlar. Thats not a problem for clothing as you can put it out quickly, but its a big problem if you're protecting a vehicle/ship/aircraft with flammable material.
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Everyone forgot their coffee...
3. Do you not even realize that this concept is independent of the material used, and the only point is "arrange your material in this way, and it will be more than five times stronger"?
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And how would you suggest its done with metals or do you know something about metallic crystals that the rest of science doesn't?
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Not the point.
And they can do 3D printing with metals now.
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If you haven't heard of this before (although it's far from being a new technique), it's essentially 3D printing using metal dust and a laser to fuse the metal dust particles.
Of course the underlying problem is that sintered metals aren't very strong to begin with. Even cast iron is stronger than sintered iron, not to even mention forged iron. But perhaps this process can still make it stronger?
I don't know. I'm not a metallurgist.
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The problem with these kinds of armour is, ageing, how will does it perform over decades. The other big problem, how well does it take a similar impact at the same location, will it block the first round, whilst the second gets through like there is no armour at all (great for corporate profits because the armour has to be replaced every time it is hit or suspected of being hit and of course every ten years or less).
Now the goal is not to be shot at, to use drones for all the dirty work, by the time your so
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"No place for the psychopaths to play war games with other people's lives"
The psychopaths are usually the ones holding the guns rather than making the high level decisions. It takes a certain personality type to kill other human beings up close possibly multiple times day after day and not be affected by it. The further someone is removed from the actual dirty task the easier it is for a more "normal" person to make the decisions.
If you want an analogy most of us are quite happy eating meat but would have s
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Not all of them. A small minority in fact quite enjoy the experience.
Re: Five times better than solid material.... (Score:1)
The psychopaths are usually the ones holding the guns rather than making the high level decisions.
You'd have to cherry-pick the fuck out of this to back it up. In mother-fucking reality, a cursory look at basic history reveals that the average person compelled forced to wield a weapon - in nearly any conflict, regardless of why - is just that, average.
The proven psychopaths (sociopaths, really) are almost always the ones calling the actual shots: spooks, brass, politicians, priests, bankers and industrialists.
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Saying fuck multiple times and usin italics everywhere doesn't exactly shout "watertight argument coming this way".
"The proven psychopaths"
Proven where?
But yeah, people who sign up for a job that could lead to them bombing and/or shooting dead multiple people multiple times are obviously perfectly normal in the head. Not. And don't give me any patriotic BS -there are plenty of patriots but they don't all join the military. There is a BIG difference between defending your country from an invader and invading
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According to DuPont: [dupont.com]
Kevlar® is inherently flame resistant, but can be ignited (limiting oxygen index of 29). Burning usually stops when the ignition source is removed; however, pulp or dust, once ignited, may continue to smolder. In laboratory testing (Table II-7), fabrics of Kevlar® do not continue to burn when the source of ignition is removed after 12 seconds of contact. Although the glow time increases with the thickness of the fabric, the burn length does not. No "drips" are experienced, which can cause flame propagation, a common problem with other organic fibers.
Also, Nomex, another plastic, doesn't burn, is very heat-resistant, and is used in PPE for firefighters, etc.
Printing one, w'll see how it does. (Score:2)
670 mph? (Score:4, Insightful)
Thats hardly the multi mach speed most bullets, tank shells and missiles travel at. And unfortunately its easier to improve the killing power of the projectile than improving the resistence of armour. This would probably only buy them a year or 2 before a new generation of projectiles rendered it redundant.
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It's not even pistol bullet speeds. A 9mm round (which isn't especially impressive, as pistols go) manages 750 mph. Your typical .30-06 rifle manages 1800+ mph.
And what kind of idiot does it take to describe bullet speeds in mph? Feet or meters per second....
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Consider Bomb Squad armor. This could lend some safety from a bomb blast, or an IDE hitting a Hummer in the field.
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Car Bumpers?
Sound Dampening panels?
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Fair point.
Goo dots (Score:2)
Call it what you want (Score:2)
What they describe sounds like what every YouTuber in a lab coat does these days: 3D print stuff, blow it up and call it a science experiment.
Armor? (Score:4, Interesting)
Who cares? What about its use in cars?
It's a nice idea but (Score:1)
Um... (Score:2)
First, while inserting the term 'fractal' into the article and headline will almost guarantee more attention, links, and funding to this project, I don't see anything mentioned in TFA as to why FRACTAL shapes in particular are better at dissipating shocks through structures? (In fact, TFA even says that itself: "....Although effective, it's not clear that the fractal structure is the best shock-dissipating design. The researchers are investigating other void- or interface-based patterns in search of ideal
Super strong and light (Score:2)
Super strong and light, made of compressed wood. Able to stop bullets:
https://www.scientificamerican... [scientificamerican.com]
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But how does it do against incendiary rounds?
Why armor, not cars? (Score:2)
How much armor do we actually make? But cars are designed to reduce the damage from high speed impacts and we get a lot of them.
The sponge strikes again. (Score:2)