Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Winning the war against Car Bombs

Check out the link: http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009/video/video-bombproof-wallpaper-vs-wrecking-ball

A Popular Science article that discusses a new Bomb-proof Wallpaper. No I am not making that up. Its a type of flexible, stretchable wallpaper that will flex and then snap back when his with kinetic force (wrecking ball, bomb blast). Helps the wall mantain its structual integrity and also prevents splinters from blasting into the room or the other side of the wall.

This is VERY cool. It probably won't stop a huge truck bomb, but it will certainly reduce damage and this thing has the potential to vastly reduce the effectiveness of all types of explosives against buildings. A hardening of the infrastructure. A major science breakthrough in the counter-terror art.

4 comments:

  1. I actually know the technology well as I've been helping with fire testing on the material. While it has amazing resistance to the kinetic energy from the blast wave, it tends to have really crappy resistance to the heat energy from a blast. So provided you've got the wall between the blast and this material to absorb the heat you're in good shape. Otherwise it ignites instantly and burns with great intensity.

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  2. Well, its a start anyway. Stick this stuff inbetween two layers and you got something. Having been blown up before, anything like this is great.

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  3. Unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way. You need to have one surface unrestrained so that all that kinetic energy can go into an elastic mechanism which then snaps back. If you restrain it then that force has to go somewhere in which case it likely sends debris flying into the compartment/room.
    Look at this material as an elastic spall liner and you'll understand how it works.

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  4. Sometimes the materials that are excellent for blocking kinetic energy act as conductors of blast acceleration.

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