High Speed Ballistics Testing Shows Graphene’s Promise
Dec. 30, 2014
Tests indicate graphene may possess Superman-like strength in its ability to stop a speeding bullet.
Tests indicate graphene may possess Superman-like strength in its ability to stop a speeding bullet. Engineers from the University of Massachusetts recently constructed a miniature shooting range to demonstrate that multilayer graphene offers serious potential as body armor, according to an article in Chemistry World. High speed ballistics testing suggests graphene can absorb 10 times the amount of energy as steel.
Engineers studied the material’s protective properties by propelling a bullet into stacked sheets of graphene at supersonic speeds reaching 2000 mph, according to the article. Graphene’s success in the ballistics testing is attributed to its high stiffness and low density. Engineers believe graphene may behave similarly to materials like Kevlar, designed specifically to stop bullets.
