Blast-resistant Technology of the Future

There are several new and emerging technologies in the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) field. Let's examine a few of them.

  • Shaped plates. The United States Army is conducting tests on advanced body armor it hopes to distribute to soldiers by 2012, if not sooner. These vests utilize six ballistic plates as opposed to the current two. Additionally, the plates are specially shaped -- a design that leaves less unprotected space between plates provides more protection to the spine [source: Schogol].

  • Zetix. Zetix is a material manufactured by the company Auxetics Technologies, Ltd. It actually increases in size as it's stretched out. Picture a length of bungee cord. If you stretch it out, it gets thinner. However, if you wrap a piece of twine around the bungee cord and draw the twine taut, the weave effectively becomes thicker. This is the idea behind auxetics. When these auxetic fiberwraps are bundled together, the bundles also get thicker when stretched out. Such a fabric could be used in blast resistance in many different capacities. If it were used to construct a blast curtain, the helix-shaped structures could be constructed of steel, titanium or carbon fiber. It could potentially allow the force of the blast to pass through the fabric while the fabric itself expands, preventing tears in the blast curtain and to more effectively protect against fragmentation.

    auxetics

    • Back to the Beginning
    The advancement of bomb disposal techniques has progressed out of necessity at a pace roughly equal to the advancement of the bomb itself.

    In World War I, the increased manufacture and use of artillery shells led to many "duds" -- unexploded ordnance (UXO). These duds had to be safely removed from both the battlefield and civilian areas. This, in turn, necessitated the advent of bomb disposal units. In the beginning, the training was mostly done on the job: Disarming the ordnance was a new and extremely dangerous task.

    In World War II, the Nazis created new sources of confusion and calamity by designing bombs that behaved like duds, but were, in fact, set on long timers or designed to explode when the shell casing was breached by a UXO member. The bomb disposal teams effectively became the target of the bombs. This led to a lethal match between the bomb-makers and the UXO technicians.

    Since then, bomb disposal advancements and methods have been held to the highest levels of secrecy so that bomb designers will find it harder to circumvent the efforts of the UXO teams.

  • Liquid armor. Liquid body armor is not actually liquid -- it consists of Kevlar plates that have been dipped in a sheer thickening liquid. When force is applied to this substance, it hardens and then liquefies again within a few fractions of a second. When Kevlar has been soaked in this substance, it becomes many times more powerful.

  • Nanotubes. Carbon can be bonded in different ways that create entirely new properties. Nanotubes are seamless, cylindrical tubes of carbon molecules that can be as small as one-billionth of a meter wide -- yet up to 60 times stronger than steel. Cloth woven from nanotubes may provide for incredibly efficient body armor -- more resistant to projectiles than steel, yet light enough to provide protection for the entire body [source: Neff].

For more information on bomb, blast-resistant technology and other related information, visit the links on the next page.