NationStates Jolt Archive

How is my military body armor design?
Notes:
This is a near future postmodern design based on existing and projected technologies (reference links available on request).
The bioweave mentioned is a biosynthetic based on spider silk and is intended to be much lighter than existing amarids like kevlar and spectra shield. The ballistic gel mentioned is a non-Newtonian gel, designed to absorb and disperse kinetic impact energy.
The projected weight is 5 kg, slightly more than half that of the USArmy interceptor body armor.
The cost (considering new technologies, and offset for the post-modern tech base) is projected to be around $2000-2500 (interceptor costs about $1500).


The helmet fits over the whole head and is shaped rather like a Greek
hopolite helmet. It is made of resin hardened Bioweave, and has
strategically placed ceramic plate tiles. An attached train of light flexable
Bioweave with small ceramic tiles drapes over the neck.
A 15 cm wide hinged bevor protects much of the face from shrapnel,
debris, and rifle butts. (A bevor resembles a visor but covers the lower
part of the face rather than the eyes). It is snow plough shaped to
deflect bullets. The bevor swings up to allow easy of communication and for
donning the NBC protective mask. Mounted under the bevor is a gorget of
the same material as the neck drape.
The Lorica vest is based on the design of old Roman lorica segmenta.
The area from waist to chest is covered by 7 overlapping paired
horizontal strips of 1 cm ceramic tile. 2 similar sets of 3 vertical strips pass
over the upper arm and shoulders, with the innermost being shaped to
accommodate the neck. There is also a groin plate.
The tiles are joined and supported by a backing that also serves as a
ballistic spall cover. The backing is a 1.5 cm sandwich of Bioweave and
a ballistic impact gel.
The vest exceeds NIJ Threat Level IV personnel protection.
On impact, the ceramic fractures the projectile core. A significant
portion of the kinetic energy is absorbed by the ceramic, and residual
energy is absorbed by the backing.
The plates are a Boron Carbide and Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) composite.
They are a monolithic multicurve shape, contoured to fit the body, and
overlap to eliminate vulnerability at joints.

you need pictures 8)

Hey! If you*re going to vote bad, at least explain or give constuctive critrical comments.

Oops. That was not aimed at you SB.

Very interesting. I think that the idea of this type of armor is not often used. The price is quite high though. I would be interested in purchasing and testing this piece of equipment.

I am limited in the computer department (being on a public computer without photoshop), and I can*t find any pictures that quite fit what I am going after. :(
However, this is a Lorica design that it is more or less based on: http://www.legionxxiv.org/corbridgaenlrg/ (largish image, so not posted)

Note: this is not the actual design.
(if anyone has the time and energy to knock up a picture, it would be appreciated. :))

edited to add link. :oops:

Very interesting. I think that the idea of this type of armor is not often used. The price is quite high though. I would be interested in purchasing and testing this piece of equipment.

Thank you. However we are going through the prototype phase right now, and this is not available. It may be put on the market at some future date. The price is not st yet, but is higher to reflect the material costs. (As I noted the interceptor vest is $1500.)

And more detail on Bioweave: Bioweave is a fabric material made from Biosteel ® artificial spiders silk, dragline and capture spider silk, Kevlar®, and carbon fiber. In body armor applications, it is made in layers of unidirectional fibres held in place by flexible resins, crossing at 0 and 90 degree angles. There are 10 layers to each sheet - 2 each of the materials mentioned above. The layers may be repeated for extra protection. The fibre and resin layers are sealed between sheets of polyethylene film similar to Saran Wrap. The resulting ballistic material is thin, lightweight and unaffected by moisture or chemicals, and very flexible (similar to Spectra Shield).

And more detail on Bioweave: Bioweave is a fabric material made from Biosteel ® artificial spiders silk, dragline and capture spider silk, Kevlar®, and carbon fiber.

Funny. I thought I was one of the only nations with something like bioweave (i have a mix of Spidersilk, kevlar, and carbon fiber in my body armor). How do you get your spidersilk?

And is Bioweave, or something similar, a real thing?

Hmm... three votes for bad, but no explanation. Please explain. If it*s bad, what needs fixing?
(If people keep voting bad without explanation, I can only ignore the votes, go with the comments, and assume it is good.)

Funny. I thought I was one of the only nations with something like bioweave (i have a mix of Spidersilk, kevlar, and carbon fiber in my body armor). How do you get your spidersilk? And is Bioweave, or something similar, a real thing?

BioSteel® (http://www.nexiabiotech.com/en/01_tech/01.php) is an actual product under development.

Using transgenic goats, Nexia produces large volumes of complex recombinant proteins. Nexia has three categories of protein-based products in development: BioSteel®-M, BioSteel®-I, and Biopharmaceuticals. For the production of BioSteel® materials, the milk produced by Nexia’s transgenic goats contains spider silk proteins which are purified and spun into fibres for use in a variety of applications. ... Nexia plans to develop a BioSteel®-I pipeline of products such as technical sporting gear, military and law enforcement applications.

I am assuming (under my tech development thread (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=131221&highlight=)) that I can find a process to produce actual spider silk. If you follow the BioSteel® link you will find this comparison:
http://www.nexiabiotech.com/images/content/tech_pipeline.gif

That is why I have both natural and artificial spider silk.

Tehre are actually two ways used by my nation; one of them, used by Nexia Biotech in Montreal, is to put the gene to make spidersilk in goats, milk them, extract the gene, and then spin it.

the second parts the hard part, and it requires special equipment to spin the thread into a durable fiber and mix it with Kevlar.

Secondly, Islandians have been making spidersilk for centuries, using the thread of several special species of spiders (non cannibalistic, unlike other spider species) native to Islandia, which means that they can be bred, and grown. Their silk is then extracted, and spun into fiber.

Tehre are actually two ways used by my nation; one of them, used by Nexia Biotech in Montreal, is to put the gene to make spidersilk in goats, milk them, extract the gene, and then spin it.

the second parts the hard part, and it requires special equipment to spin the thread into a durable fiber and mix it with Kevlar.

Secondly, Islandians have been making spidersilk for centuries, using the thread of several special species of spiders (non cannibalistic, unlike other spider species) native to Islandia, which means that they can be bred, and grown. Their silk is then extracted, and spun into fiber.

Tehre are actually two ways used by my nation; one of them, used by Nexia Biotech in Montreal, is to put the gene to make spidersilk in goats, milk them, extract the gene, and then spin it.

the second parts the hard part, and it requires special equipment to spin the thread into a durable fiber and mix it with Kevlar.

Secondly, Islandians have been making spidersilk for centuries, using the thread of several special species of spiders (non cannibalistic, unlike other spider species) native to Islandia, which means that they can be bred, and grown. Their silk is then extracted, and spun into fiber.