design input for mk IV Chest Plate

[Precision]

Not sure if it will make a difference, but I am using bedliner on the tile edges. When the edge is still wet, I am adding a piece of string. This I am hoping will act as a cushion / energy dissipator from adjacent tiles. If nothing else it helps me to space out the tiles better.

And yes that means mk IV.I is under construction. Still trying to find the stronger steel in a thin sheet.

[Highspeed]

BTW - I got your email, but I haven't been able to stay logged in to Hotmail long enough to reply, it's not been working properly for about 3 days now. I suppose it'll sort itself out eventually...

[Precision]

BTW - I got your email, but I haven't been able to stay logged in to Hotmail long enough to reply, it's not been working properly for about 3 days now. I suppose it'll sort itself out eventually...

cool. When ever.

[Yogimus]

Not sure if it will make a difference, but I am using bedliner on the tile edges. When the edge is still wet, I am adding a piece of string. This I am hoping will act as a cushion / energy dissipator from adjacent tiles. If nothing else it helps me to space out the tiles better.

And yes that means mk IV.I is under construction. Still trying to find the stronger steel in a thin sheet.

Have you considered laminating very thin sheets of porcelain?

[Precision]

Not sure if it will make a difference, but I am using bedliner on the tile edges. When the edge is still wet, I am adding a piece of string. This I am hoping will act as a cushion / energy dissipator from adjacent tiles. If nothing else it helps me to space out the tiles better.

And yes that means mk IV.I is under construction. Still trying to find the stronger steel in a thin sheet.

Have you considered laminating very thin sheets of porcelain?

I would need thin layers of porcelain (a source for them). But how exactly are you talking about doing this lamination?

We are kinda "laminating" the tile pieces now, as in make a layer- offset it with the next layer, then offset a third layer. That is what gives us the ability to absorb multiple impacts. Each bullet only crushes 1-4 tiles in a circle around the impact location on layer one. Layer 2 loses 2-5 tiles. Layer 3 usually only loses 2 tiles. I am trying to come up with an energy dissipation layer for between the tiles but BULK is the problem there. May see if a thin (1/8") layer of bedliner helps reduce ripple crushing of tiles. I have also reduced the tile surface area to 1" squares (from 2") to reduce collateral tile destruction.

[Yogimus]

Well, the secret to resistance is layering different materials. Thinner materials, more layers. (4x 1/4 inch steel is stronger than 1 inch of steel for example) I was thinking what if you gave cloth a thin gypsum wash? or modeling clay hardened on a fabric?

[Precision]

Well, the secret to resistance is layering different materials. Thinner materials, more layers. (4x 1/4 inch steel is stronger than 1 inch of steel for example) I was thinking what if you gave cloth a thin gypsum wash? or modeling clay hardened on a fabric?

may have to do some research into that.

I am currently happy with the porcelain and its qualities. I am not happy with my containment of the porcelain and the ripple effect of the impact shock. I may need to wrap the tile strips in pantyhose and hit that with the bedliner spray. I am hoping this will help to hold the powderized tiles in place, reduce the sag of the rows when some get blown up and reduce shock from traveling in an arc away from the impact and destroying tiles from secondary effects.

I am lead to believe that the flex and the gap between the layers of 1/4" steel is what causes the reduction in penetration. Do you have any knowledge in if that is true or how the physics of it actually works?

[Precision]

Back during WW II the Brits did some experimental armor for merchant ships that worked the coasts that were getting straffed by German aircraft. They put granite chips into asphalt and slathered it onto the steel used on merchant ships. One test fires the granite chips were hard enough to shatter or blunt machine gun rounds.

That is effectively what I am doing with the porcelain tiles, minus the bulk and weight of the asphalt. But my duct tape matrix is not proving to be optimal. I am hoping supplementing that with bedliner saturated pantyhose will help in that regard.

A variation was some post war experiments by the US for tank armor. They sandwiched a sheet of glass between between two layers of steel. The hard glass would defeat an armor piercing round or a heat round. The only problem was it would only do for one hit. The whole glass sheet would shatter after the one hit.

That is why I pre-shattered the tile - cut it into small squares. I have seen what happens to whole floor tiles when I shoot them. Lets just say multiple impact resistance is NOT happening.

[Aglifter]

You know, asphalt - maybe w. a softer polymer - might be a good choice for what you want - essentially, I think, its another non-Newtonian fluid.

Chocolate's essentially a suspension of lots of long chain oil, and hard solids. Is there anything else like that?

[Yogimus]

Well, the secret to resistance is layering different materials. Thinner materials, more layers. (4x 1/4 inch steel is stronger than 1 inch of steel for example) I was thinking what if you gave cloth a thin gypsum wash? or modeling clay hardened on a fabric?

may have to do some research into that.

I am currently happy with the porcelain and its qualities. I am not happy with my containment of the porcelain and the ripple effect of the impact shock. I may need to wrap the tile strips in pantyhose and hit that with the bedliner spray. I am hoping this will help to hold the powderized tiles in place, reduce the sag of the rows when some get blown up and reduce shock from traveling in an arc away from the impact and destroying tiles from secondary effects.

I am lead to believe that the flex and the gap between the layers of 1/4" steel is what causes the reduction in penetration. Do you have any knowledge in if that is true or how the physics of it actually works?

The physics are based around how a bullet hits. As the bullet hits (and is blunted by) the 1st sheet, the sheet dissipates the energy into the second layer across the entire width. Once the bullet penetrates sheet #1, the second sheet meets a duller point, and is already moving in the same direction as the bullet. The spacing between the layers allows the bullet excess to "splash" out.

A single sheet will channel the entire mass into one channel.