Process That Converts Cotton to Boron Carbide Could Create Armored T-Shirts

How come no one is researching ways to manipulate electromagnetic forces?

What keeps gravity from pulling us through the dirt and towards the core of the Earth? Electromagnetism.

If I were an inventor, or worked at DARPA, I would find a way to increase electromagnetic forces in materials on the atomic level to increase its natural resistance to outside forces.

Why is diamond harder than plastic? Its molecules are arranged in such a manner that the atoms are hard to break up. If we can somehow increase this natural force in other materials that can be manufactured, shaped, sculpted and turned on with a flip of a switch, we can make armor that is flexible and lightweight, but can be diamond hard (or harder) when needed to deflect/absorb energy from bullets.

Imagine an Abrams tank needing only 1/2 inch of armor but can still take a direct hit from a T-90. How fast could this thing be and what kind of range would the light weight afford it?

Or is that not even possible? Just a thought...

"Not possible" pretty much covers it.

For the title..should it be Boron Carbide instead of Carbon Boride?

Cool feature about the UV protection though.

it is NOT magnetisim that keeps us from falling into the center of the earth its the strong and weak Atomic forces and moleculear bindings of the earth

@CoolHand032 Indeed, it should be and has been fixed.

oh man, just like that movie Blankman!

@Rpenri

Is this your wild hypothesis or do you have some sort of source for those odd things you came up with? Really I am not attacking I am thinking of it as more of a basic education. There is more to my answers, but this should cover the basics.

1st statement just doesn't make any sense however buoyancy of less dense matter seems maybe more fitting. ie: oil and water, or if you prefer large iron core surrounded by highly compressed soils (AKA earth), and people/animals etc

Next statement. Umm not sure I want to address this magnetic forces idea sounds like another off version of alchemy... changing lead to gold sort of idea. What I mean is that to change the magnetism as you calling it would be to change its electrical charge of the valence shell... we have this already its called electricity. If you try to increase the charge it simply transfers that charge to the next piece of matter.

third statement/question. Diamonds are hard because of compression forces on carbon molecules. Diamonds are created deep in the earth with tremendous forces. When a pile (for lack of better term) of carbon clumps together at the right pressure and head the end result once cooled is diamonds.

Oh my last thought on the hardness of diamonds is that they are hard, but in gaining hardness they lose flexibility that is a major limiting factor for use as a armor design. My guess is that it has been tried as an armor material though and just didn't work... if for no other reason cost effectiveness.

@quseio2

actually it is ELECTROmagnetism at the atomic level that helps our feet work against gravity that prevents us from phasing through concrete/wooden panels/whatever the floor is made of. Electromagnetism is also the force that keeps electrons in orbit around the nucleus. The strong nuclear force keeps protons and neutrons together and it's only ridiculously strong over ridiculously small distances.

The electromagnetic force is actually responsible for all the repulsiveness we experience everyday like when I'm typing this right now on my keyboard, my fingers aren't going through the keys. Thank you electromagnetism!

please get your facts straight before posting stuff on a website talking about science

I have more of a question in response to this. Wouldn't the elasticity of such protective fabrics be just as much a negative thing? I mean, of course the bullet wouldn't penetrate through the armor and not the entirety of a human body, but would a material like this allow for a bullet to "partly" penetrate the body as the armor stretches and then create a spring type reaction that would pull the projectile back out of the wound?

In this regard it seems Kevlar, although bulky and heavy, would still be a better option. Or is my perception of Kevlar armor highly distorted? I have seen stories where the bullet penetrates through a Kevlar vest anyway, and pulls the fabric inside the wound as well.

I'm not very versed in this, so I apologize if my thoughts are somewhat laughable.

@ Loschen: My understanding is that Kevlar is also a fiber, flexible in thin layers and stiff in thicker layers. I think the advantage of elasticity is that the armor does not break when it takes a hit. Elastic armor absorbs the projectile's energy by stretching, whereas hard ceramic plates crack or shatter to disperse the energy.

Take a look at sheer thickening fluids (dilatants) which are flexible and soft normally, but instantly harden upon high speed impact from a weapon. For body armor, those technologies may well be one of the possibilities for the future. Get flexibility and toughness at the same time.

Marcoreid,

Thickening fluids (dilatants) are very plausable. However loot at the weight of liquids and amout of liquid required to stop a 7.62 round. Currently we use a combanation of kevlar and sapi plate (ceramic plates) that will stop a 7.62 round. This is the standard for US soldiers and Marines currently. Kevlar is great for its ability to absorb impact but largly ineffective aginst high caliber rifle rounds ie: 7.62 rounds. Hence the ceramic plate inserts for the chest and back. This will only protect vital organs, leaving the extremities exposed like the arms and legs, even the head. The ceramic plates can take a few shots before failing, so my concern with dilants is the same as ceramics. Once trigered, does the material have memory and return to its origonal state or does it stay solid or semi solid? I think that this new tech might be promising if it shows an improvement in mobility, ability to take multiple impacts, and extended protection to extremities. Sorry if I have mispelled anything. Just my thoughts as a prior military....

Logically, then, this should work as well if one starts with edible underwear--and one could snack between bakings, no?

Build light, flexible, form fitting space suits....

Having a highly flexible material is not necessarily a good thing as the force of impact from a projectile would be concentrated in a small area and not translated outward to a larger area. Thus, the impact pressure would be much higher and the damage to the underlying tissue would be vastly increased. Recall that a knife cuts due to the application of high pressure and not overall force. The sharper (smaller the area), the more easily it penetrates with the same overall force.

Also, having a nano material covering and in contact with the body could be problematic. Nano materials easily migrate through cell walls and can then pollute the tissues. Until we understand the short and long term effects of nano materials on the human body and/or the environment, we should proceed VERY carefully.

If the material acted like a non-Newtonian fluid, flexible cloths would be feasible. The sudden impact of a projectile would make the cloth inflexible and spread the impact over a larger area, however, the slow bending of the cloth during normal use would allow it to be flexible. Now, that would be cool.

Colombia does a better job in making wearable body armor - even knife-proof boxers - for less than half the price.

Twobrain

Like Poopshoop explained, electromagnetism is what keeps some material from passing through each other. The forces that keeps concrete from resisting our weight (pull of gravity) is what makes it hard.

Let's take steel and wood, for example. Why is steel harder than wood? Well, it's because the electromagnetic bonds of the atoms of steel (iron and carbon?) are stronger than those that make up those of the wood (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen)...different elements so different characteristics, correct? Well, what if we were to manipulate those bonds in such a way as to make them stronger/weaker, etc? Maybe reorganize them so that in one state, they are flexible but in another they are extremely hard.

I dunno, it was just a crazy idea that I had some time ago...a device or doohickey that can manipulate electromagnetic forces to increase/decrease atomic bonds in materials to make them harder/softer.

I'm not surprised that many of you don't understand...genius is a step away from madness, no? And, most people don't have the creativity or imagination to think it possible.

LOL...I told you they wouldn't understand it, Nikola.

It's not so much that we don't understand you rpenri, it's that you don't understand the enormity of what it is you're suggesting. It's not exactly easy to control the basic forces of the universe.

...and madness is sometimes just madness. Do you sometimes feel like you are the only one who recognizes your true genius and amazing intellect? Food for thought.

LOL..., Einstein.

Your on to something rpenri, Pop sci had something back when where they made thin film diamond from tequila, they had nano micro batteries/ micro reactors,most magnetic material on and on,money is whats stopping progress,cause if all these little projects ever came together then you would be crazy but a visionary,sandwich your cotton nanowire shirt between thin film diamond add a reactor, who knows new spacesuit or maybe Ironman,just a thought.

On my planet, outer shirts are woven, but Tee shirts are knitted. Does that matter to the process? The Boron fibers don't seem to be oriented to carry any of the main fiber loads, nor to create a structure themselves unless felted together and bound with resin.
Bob Stuart

Their process for carbonization is very interesting because it's the exact process a contemporary of Edison's (later his partner) named Joseph Wilson Swan used to produce early commercial light bulb filaments.

The original idea was to treat cotton with sulphuric acid, and later experiments led to baking the thread to impregnate it with carbon.

what about the impact? and i´m thinking .50 caliber rounds... if we are thinking the future, well, i think that will became standart in a few years.

An innovative solution. I wonder when an innovation will be released to disable the chemical reaction of a bullet in close proximity. Click click.

Better yet. Ground troops trained in diplomacy, the local language, culture and history of the region they will be required to, occupy... "for peace". Now wouldn't that be something, an educated military defense force knowing the exact reason why they are fighting on foreign soil.

@poopshoop actually I personally thought it was the Pauli Exclusion priciple Preventing us from phasing through materials. But I am not sure. I do know that the normal force actually has more of a hand in that then the electromagnetic force. This though is due to the Pauli repulsion though. Not simply "oh, elctron charges repel each other." Please correct me if I am wrong though but keep in mind Normal force instead of the standard misconception of electromagnetism.