Body Armor
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Fabric
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YARN
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The researchers say their material is already several times stronger, tougher and stiffer than fibres currently used to make protective armour.
The lightweight fibre, made up of millions of tiny carbon nanotubes, is starting to reveal exciting properties.
Carbon nanotubes are hollow cylinders of carbon just one atom thick.
The new material was developed by a group at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at Cambridge.
It has emerged from efforts to create the world's strongest man-made fibre.
"These nanotube fibres possess characteristics which enable them to be woven as a cloth, or incorporated into composite materials to produce super-strong products," said Professor Windle.
For body armour, the strength of fibres in a fabric is a critical parameter. Strain-to-failure - in other words how much the material can extend before it breaks - is another.
The fibre created in Cambridge is very strong, lightweight and good at absorbing energy in the form of fragments travelling at very high velocity.
