homemade body armor..., page 1
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reply posted on 29-12-2008 @ 02:55 AM by mdiinican
Originally posted by Wolf321
In the late 1800's a Chicago priest developed a bullet proof vest made of silk. If I recall, the vest worked against lower velocity handguns. Perhaps in conjunction with steel or kevlar you would get some decent protection.

en.wikipedia.org...


Kevlar is of similar strength to spider silk, if not quite as strong. Ultra high molecular weight polyethelene like spectra or dyeema is stronger. It's much stronger than silkworm silk, and if you've got some, you don't need the silk. Because when you've got a kevlar vest, You've pretty much got commercially made body armor.

I'd be interested in any place where you can buy Kevlar weave by the yard, but prices I see are like 30 dollars a yard; you won't see significant savings over buying armor commercially.

I suggest some small, very hard ceramic tiles, like, for bathrooms or something on top of mild steel sheet (maybe 1/8th inch?). Perhaps with a layer or five of nylon glued beneath the steel as a spall liner. Should stop 9mm and .45 at a reasonably close distance.

With any luck, the nylon would stop rifle rounds from making the steel fragment and harm you worse than the bullet alone would.

It'd weigh more than SAPI plates, sure, especially for the protection, but it'd be very cheap.


reply posted on 10-2-2009 @ 06:31 PM by mdiinican
reply to post by ADVISOR


Cornstarch is a shear thickening fluid, but it's far from a good choice for stopping bullets. It's just too weak. You may as well wear bags full of mud. The kind of STF that stops bullets is pricey, and probably very difficult to find.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Titanium is only stronger than steel per weight. By thickness, it's weaker. Only use it if you can afford to use more volume of it than you could steel. Titanium is a better choice for a given weight than steel. It's also far more expensive and harder to get. Kevlar and spectra are also expensive. I don't think the OP is looking to invent the next big thing in personal protection; I think he wants to stop bullets on a shoestring budget.

A good level II or even a level IIIA vest shouldn't be that expensive compared to the amount of Kevlar or spectra needed to make them. You can even buy used police armor for cheaper (Kevlar and spectra degrade with age, but not THAT much. Make sure you don't get zylon.). You could buy two level II vests, double up the ballistic material into one, stick a steel (or titanium, if you've got the cash) plate on the front and back, and call it level IV.
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