Self-healing Polymer plastic

[phavoc]

Interesting news article here about self-healing polymers. It's still very new, but it does have some great potential, especially if the polymers could actually stand up to the wear and tear. Next they need self-healing starship hulls of the non-organic time. Makes repairing battle damage much easier!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/terminator-plastic-polymer-heal-itself-014827978.html?vp=1

 

[dragoner]

Self sealing vacc suits would be a good deal.

 

[phavoc]

Self sealing vacc suits would be a good deal.

What self-respecting evil ref would ever let that kind of tech into their game?? :shock:

 

[dragoner]

Self sealing vacc suits would be a good deal.

What self-respecting evil ref would ever let that kind of tech into their game?? :shock:

Me? 8)

You want to see crazy gear, look at the manpac/handpac's in the scout book equipment section.

 

[locarno24]

What self-respecting evil ref would ever let that kind of tech into their game?? :shock:

I figure it makes sense. Most high TL suits will be self-sealing. The key thing, though, is that they're self-sealing for small punctures. A non-penetrating scratch will be reinforced. A narrow slit* may seal itself (especially with outside help holding it closed edge-to-edge). A sizeable puncture, especially a ragged one**, won't without a patch kit.

* e.g. A sharp edge in some loose debris

** e.g. a 1/4 cm micrometeorite or a bullet

 

[Infojunky]

A sizeable puncture, especially a ragged one**, won't without a patch kit.

** e.g. a 1/4 cm micrometeorite or a bullet

Speaking from personal experience both the entrance and exit holes of a bullet wound probably shouldn't be considered sizable nor especially ragged.

 

[Condottiere]

Latex suits would have to be looked at in a new way (or not).

Hollow points would be more messy.

 

[dragoner]

http://www.robbietanks.com/ (warning annoying flash)

Their fuel tanks are self sealing to even .50 cal & 20mm etc.

 

[Condottiere]

At some point the diameter of the hole is no longer the problem.

 

[steve98052]

** e.g. a 1/4 cm micrometeorite or a bullet

Just out of curiosity, I worked out the kinetic energy of a meteorite of that size, to find what sorts of bullets would be most similar to it. I assumed a sphere of ice at the orbital velocity of the International Space Station, looked things up on Wikipedia, and did a little arithmetic:

Showing my work:
Ice density = 0.9167 g/cc
Sphere volume = 4/3 pi r^3
0.25 cm sphere volume = 4/3 pi (0.25)^3 ≈ 0.00818 cc
0.25 cm ice mass ≈ 0.00750 g
International Space Station orbital velocity ≈ 7.66 km/s
Kinetic energy = 1/2 m v^2
Kinetic energy of 0.25 cm ice sphere at 7660 m/s ≈ 220 kg m^2/s^2 ≈ 220 J

That's on a par with the .22 LR bullets listed in the Wikipedia infobox, which range from 141 J to 259 J.

In terms of damage it would do, I couldn't find information about whether an extremely small, extremely fast impact (such as ice at orbital velocity) would do more or less damage to a space suit than a small-caliber bullet of similar kinetic energy. Space suits are specifically designed to resist small, fast impacts, since that's a constant hazard in space. But does that leave them vulnerable to bullets? Or are they even more resistant to bullets? I couldn't find an answer -- probably because withstanding bullets has never been a design goal for real-world space suits.

 

[dragoner]

It would be on par with bullets, yes.