.50 cal vs. coated steel armor - GIF

[Altair]

.50 cal vs. coated steel armor.




Previously:

.50 cal mag dump - GIF
CEO gets shot to demonstrate body armor effectiveness - GIF
Testing a bulletproof shield in the 1920s- photo
Composite metal foam armor - GIF
1923 bulletproof vest test - photo

[nova_robotics]

Looks like they've got two pieces of armor in a whipple shield configuration. It's very interesting. Two pieces of armor separated by an air gap can perform better than one solid piece of armor. They're using this for micrometeroid impacts on spacecraft.

I noticed a very similar effect years ago when I was trying to make a light diffuser for a project. Turns out you can do a mediocre job of diffusing the light with a solid piece of 1.5" UHMW, or you can do a much better job by stacking two 1/4" pieces separated by an air gap.

[baja]

How do they arrive at 300,000 fps, 30,000 fps, and 9,000 fps? Max fps is listed as 3,044 fps for a 647 gr. projectile for 50 BMG. Unless this is an experiment with a non-standard .50 cal. wildcat. Projectile looks to be .50 BMG.

[ductape]

How do they arrive at 300,000 fps, 30,000 fps, and 9,000 fps? Max fps is listed as 3,044 fps for a 647 gr. projectile for 50 BMG. Unless this is an experiment with a non-standard .50 cal. wildcat. Projectile looks to be .50 BMG.

Those numbers are the camera speed in frames per second.

[Ralphxyz]

Where does the explosion come from? I have shot a 50 cal machine gun and never got a explosion.

[Nick79]

Please explain the "explosion". I can easily accept intense heat produced by the penitration but the fireball has me stumped

[ductape]

The explosion is probably from some material like Tannerite, for theatrics. Another cause may be residual oil inside the apparently sealed target causing a compression-explosion diesel effect, but that seems too complicated and unlikely.