Hasta La Gadget!

A new kind of armor that can adjust on its own may be able to save a lot of lives. Scientists from Michigan’s U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) are currently working on body armor equipped with sensors able to relay the armor’s condition to a remote system in real time. According to New Scientist, the sensors used on the armor under development are a new technology. It is based on piezoelectric materials that have the capacity to generate a small amount of electricity when bent and vice versa.

The idea is to use this voltage produced by the piezoelectric material upon impact with a bullet to identify areas of the armor which are most heavily damaged. This enables the real time monitoring of armor so that any imperfections are immediately discovered. “If you know that one side of the armor is weakening, you could turn the vehicle to protect that side,” says Thomas Meitzler of TARDEC. Additionally, he voltage of the electricity produced by the sensors differs depending on the object that hit it. To state an example; a lower caliber bullet would produce lesser voltage than one of a higher-caliber. There might also be potential for the sensor technology to be used in armored vehicles, ships and aircraft.