Bulletproof metal foam will make military equipment easier and more efficient.

The material is based on the so-called composite metal foam (CMF). It is produced by

gas sparging through the molten metal - the result is a foamy mixture, which can then be cooled to form a light matrix and place hollow metal spheres in it.

The resulting material is much lighter than ordinary metal bulletproof armor, but with comparable strength to it.

During the tests, armor was fired with shells 50caliber, which crashed into it with a speed of 500 m / s to 885 m / s. The material was able to withstand 72-75% of the kinetic energy of the shells and 68-78% of armor-piercing. In some cases, the shells did not leave dents on the material.

CMF armor was less than half the weight of rolled uniform steel armor needed to achieve the same level of protection.

Afsane Rabi, lead author

Earlier, a team of scientists at Canadian University McGill created the "impenetrable" coating for working gloves, inspired by the structure of the scales in shell pike.