Melissa D'Amico

96-million-year-old armor may be the newest material for US Army
August 5, 2008

Fish scales and seashells are not what come to mind when I think “armor.” Yet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have suggested that the study of these materials could lead to the development of lighter and more resistant armor material.

The currently used armor for the military weighs approximately 30 pounds. While this is a definite improvement from the armor of the past, these researchers, with funding from the US Army, are trying to find ways to create even more advanced materials.

 In a recent article written by Carolyn Y. Johnson of The Boston Globe, a focus is brought to a 96-million-year-old fish, known as a “dinosaur eel.” It is believed that this fish, as well as others could hold clues to new ways of constructing armor.

 Within the article, Christine Ortiz, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at MIT stated, “Seashells and armored fish are made of weak materials- basically they are made of chalk. But they put them together with a design in such a way you get an increase in the toughness and strength by orders of magnitude.”

Along with her colleagues, Ortiz studied fish scales that were removed from the dinosaur eel. The researchers found that the scales were both lightweight and flexible. These scales were composed of fours layers of different materials, which may have been created through evolution.

 In testing the success of these kinds of scales, the research team studied how an attack would affect the scales. When mimicking an attack, it was discovered that the fish scales cracked, forming a circle around the area of impact. The scale was left fully intact. From this it was learned that these scales were able to take on a number of blows before they were destroyed.

Now that they have determined the key elements of the dinosaur eel’s scales, the next step to take will be to fink a way to mimic these properties using advanced materials. Researchers hope to have a prototype for this armor within the next few years.

Posted by Melissa D'Amico on August 5, 2008 | Comments (0)