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What Kind of Fabric Can Stop a 2x4 Launched From a Pneumatic Cannon at 100 M.P.H.?

If you said "Kevlar," get out of my classroom

By Rain Noe - August 25, 2015

in Materials | Crowdfunding

Texas Tech University's National Wind Institute is the place to go when you want to study how to mitigate tornado and hurricane damage. One of the toys they've got in their testing labs is a crazy pneumatic cannon that can fire, well, anything you can stuff into it, at speeds of up to 250 miles per hour.

In the following video, they load the thing up with a freaking 2x4 and fire it clear through a brick wall. Afterwards they fire another 2x4 into a fabric tape at the same speed, and watch what happens:

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So what the heck is that stuff? That's Dyneema, trademarked as The World's Strongest Fiber. Dyneema is a trade name for UHMwPE, a/k/a Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, which is reckoned to be tougher than Kevlar, and pops up in similar places like bulletproof vests. Produced by Dutch material science firm DSM, Dyneema is also used in ropes, slings, nets, sailcloth, cut-resistant gloves, and even specialty jeans and motorcycle clothing.

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Though it was developed in the '60s, Dyneema doesn't seem to have the same brand recognition that Kevlar does. But that may be changing. Remember the Swiss Barefoot Company whose tough-as-nails outdoor socks we showed you a few years ago? Turns out they've now ditched Kevlar for Dyneema:

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That Kickstarter campaign, which sought $10,000, has currently netted $233,826 with 12 days left to pledge. That's gotta be the first 20x-funded Kickstarter campaign we've seen that involved socks.

You can learn more about Dyneema here.

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Rafael Morgan

9 years ago

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Yes, Austin. Spectra is that Japanese competitor of Dyneema. They both have started in the fishing line market. Dyneema has been used for quite a while, though, mostly in the sports field (bow strings, paracord, mountaineering ropes, etc...)

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- Kevin Dixon
  
  Rafael Morgan
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Spectra is from US based Honeywell and produced under license from Dyneema. Toyobo is the Japanese competitor operating in limited markets under agreements between Toyobo and Dyneema. UHMWPE is generic in certain lower modulus and when produced in a manner outside DSM's patents.
  
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Austin Liu

9 years ago

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Hasn't UHMWPE fiber been around for a while under the brand name Spectra?

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