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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @10:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the any-volunteers-for-testing? dept.

Banned for civilian use before it even exists:

https://sciencealert.com/graphene-paired-sheets-diamene-deformation-diamond-property

One day armed forces might protect themselves with layers of a material called diamene; dual layers of graphene that respond to a force by deforming into an impenetrable diamond plate.

[...] Researchers from the Advanced Science Research Centre at the City University of New York [have] layered pairs of graphene sheets to create a material that turns into a three-dimensional diamond-like structure when smashed with enough force.

Sudden changes to the conductivity of the sheets when dented could present some interesting new electronic properties.

But it's the possible application as lightweight protection where it really gets interesting.

"This is the thinnest film with the stiffness and hardness of diamond ever created," says lead researcher, physicist Elisa Riedo.

"Previously, when we tested graphite or a single atomic layer of graphene, we would apply pressure and feel a very soft film. But when the graphite film was exactly two-layers thick, all of a sudden we realised that the material under pressure was becoming extremely hard and as stiff, or stiffer, than bulk diamond."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @01:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @01:19PM (#614274)

    Is this new material specially good at stopping penetration? In terms of body armor, there is still the question of the max acceleration delivered to the human, a massive enough shell is going to kill you, even if it doesn't penetrate the armor. Then there is also the question of flexibility--if this new material isn't flexible it isn't going to be very comfortable...