Search Continues for Lighter Alternatives to Steel Armor

Working with a material 10 times lighter than steel -- but 250 times stronger -- would be a dream come true for any engineer. If this material also had amazing properties that made it highly conductive of heat and electricity, it would start to sound like something out of a science fiction novel.

Let me tell you my experience, While on my trip a few weeks ago I spent more than my share of time lugging my heavy baggage from one end of the airport to the other. This experience got me to thinking about how much insane stuff D&D characters drag through the wilderness.

Now, I like to travel light: I don’t check baggage unless I really need to. For my five-day trip I managed to get everything into a single reasonably-sized carry-on bag. It was just the bare minimum of items for five days: I wore a few clothing items twice to save space, and only carried a couple of books and a laptop for entertainment.

But when it comes to army I wondered how they manage to bundle up everything and put on their back and still manage to travel the tough war terrain. are they super humans?? No they also face the same problem the way we do, Now they have also started to ask for lighter parts..

But the Army may have a tough time getting there as long as tons of heavy steel plates continue to bear down on its patrol and combat vehicles. Lighter blast-proof materials that can protect vehicles as effectively as steel have been a continual pursuit at military and private sector laboratories, but so far success has been limited.. The Pentagon’s science arm, meanwhile, believes that there may be practical solutions out there — from nameless small businesses or even from someone’s garage — but that the military has yet to reach out and grab them.

These armor composites can be varied in total thickness, layer thickness, hardness of each layer and alloy selection to provide maximum protection against the various threat levels. Other types of bonding techniques may be employed, such as explosive bonding, as alternate means of fabrication. In addition, high strength titanium to low strength titanium steel to titanium or aluminum and titanium to aluminum are other composites that found suitable. 

Traditional military contractors already are engaged in a litany of armor research projects at various defense agencies. But Pentagon officials for years have insisted on the need to recruit lesser-known firms that can inject innovation into military programs. “We want to engage new people,” Christodoulou says. “The armor challenge is aimed at non-traditional companies … It’s aimed at small businesses, at inventors in their garage.”

say for exmample If in a vehicle that weighs 40,000 pounds, if half of that weight comes from armor, the lighter alloys would help slim it down to 30,000 pounds while maintaining the same ballistic performance...Isn't that cool??