Transparent lightweight armor made of thermoplastic elastomer for US Army

Researchers at the U.S Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have patented a transparent thermoplastic elastomer armor Compared with the general bulletproof glass, the newly developed armor not only has excellent bulletproof performance, but also has lighter weight Thermoplastic elastomer can cure the soft rubber polymer by physical method rather than chemical method, and the curing process is reversible, so it can repair the damaged armor surface in situ When the damaged armor is heated to a temperature higher than the softening point (about 100 ℃), the crystalline region in the polymer at the fracture surface melts and the fusion recombination is realized by diffusion, the researchers said This process is very simple, only a hot metal plate such as electric soldering iron is needed to form a new smooth and flat surface of the fracture surface Up to now, NRL researchers have used this polymer material as a coating to improve the impact resistance of the substrate, and have carried out corresponding tests The coating of polyurea and polyisobutylene improves the bulletproof performance of armor and helmet, and at the same time, it can restrain and mitigate the shock wave produced by explosion Compared with the traditional bulletproof glass, the elasticity of polyurea and polyisobutylene coating can be improved by using a variant of thermoplastic elastomer, which is transparent, light and repairable Due to the dissipative property of elastomer, the damage caused by shell attack is difficult to spread, which means that the transparency of armor will not be changed and multiple attack protection can be realized NRL's transparent thermoplastic elastomer armor technology has been patented in the United States - a polymer coating that improves performance and can be repaired in situ.