Bulletproof T-shirt? Generally, when talking about bulletproof vests, the first thing that comes to our minds is certainly not a comfortable feeling. Usually, protection has a price, and often this price is paid in terms of comfort, wearing heavy armors that protect us from potential dangers but make it hard to move easily without sweating heavily.
In the future, all this could become a distant memory thanks to a research project from the University of South Carolina, which could make life much easier for those who have to wear a bulletproof vest, for example soldiers, police agents or personalities who might be exposed to terrorist or enemy threats.
How a bulletproof t-shirt made?
In fact, scientists took a normal T-shirt, dipped it into a solution based on boron carbide, an extremely resistant ceramic material (it is the third most resistant on Earth) used in the production of bulletproof jackets. The result is a T-shirt that only at first glance looks like any other, but actually is a real armor, with the non-marginal advantage of being lightweight and flexible.
Once it is immersed in this solution, the T-shirt is placed in an oven and heated, turning cotton fibers in carbon fibers. This transformation triggers a reaction which produces boron carbide. The fabric obtained is just a bit thicker than a normal one, but it is flexible and can easily be bent, unlike the standard type of bulletproof vests used by police and military forces.
Furthermore, and this is particularly important for the military deployed in sunny areas such as Iraq, this fabric is also acting as an UV filter, protecting from harmful sun radiation. In the future, soldiers and police forces might be still protected, but while moving freely and without sweating, and the fabric might also be used for vehicle armors, much lighter than those currently in use.
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