If researchers from Rice University and MIT have their way, the super soldier of the future will be outfitted in razor-thin armor that's impervious to bullets. The team of mechanical engineers and materials scientists have developed a special ballistics material that's just 20 nanometers thick (a water molecule is just one-nanometer wide) and can stop a deadly projectile in its tracks.
The material, a structured polymer composite made of alternating rubbery and glassy layers, can absorb the kinetic energy from high impact assaults with startling efficiency. During tests, researchers blasted it with tiny glass beads that simulated the impact from a 9-millimeter bullet. The ultra-thin layers didn't just halt a projectile in its path, but sealed up around the embedded bead.
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