Researcher in Switzerland have discovered a cotton that can be combined with boron, the third hardest material on the earth. This new discovering has given light to the idea of bullet proof T-shirts.Boron originally used to protect tanks, it being looked at to see really how much it can be manipulated and how strong its mechanical properties are.
Researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), led by Brad Nelson, have been looking at the strength of the new material.
“At this point what we’ve shown is a technique for incorporating this boron carbide material into a T-shirt and this material has some very important strength properties,” he told swissinfo.ch.
The process starts with scientist dipping the T-shirt into a boron solution. Next the T-shirt is removed and heated in an oven where the heat changes the cotton fibres into carbon fibres, whuich react with the boron solution and produce boron carbide. This produces a lightweight, tougher and stiffer T-shirt but it is still flexible.
According to Swissinfo.ch, mechanical engineer Xiaodong Li at the University of Southern Carolina has described the process as a “true breakthrough”.
"The research a conceptual change in fabricating lightweight, fuel-efficient, super-strong and ultra-tough materials that offered unprecedented opportunities," Li said.
