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Post by AtomHeartDragon on May 22, 2018 21:54:46 GMT
So, good whipple shield seems to be some ductile metal, preferably with some hard layer on the surface, bulk armour is usually best made of boron filament or amorphous carbon - at least judging from popular solutions, but what are the good choices for that last little layer that stops bulk armour from shotgunning ship's internals when hit hard enough?
Spider silk seems like economy choice, but you can surely do better than that. What are the most desirable properties? Is, say, PBO any good?
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Post by RiftandRend on May 22, 2018 22:02:46 GMT
I find graphogel-boron filament layers to be very effective inner layers.
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Post by Fgdfgfthgr on May 22, 2018 22:14:39 GMT
Aramid Fiber, Liquid Crystal Polymer Fiber, Nitrile Rubber, Potassium, Selenium.
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Post by Fgdfgfthgr on May 22, 2018 22:31:28 GMT
This material must be soft, cheap and low density. If it is fibrous then could be even better. The strength isn't important. I use Aramid Fiber because it can also act as anti-laser protection. However, it actually not the best choice upon all.
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Post by AdmiralObvious on May 23, 2018 3:27:35 GMT
I don't know if low density is absolutely required. A thin layer of lead or silver for example can be just as good as it's equivelant mass in aluminum I've found.
None of those are remotely laser resistant, but still.
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Post by Lukander on May 26, 2018 22:28:25 GMT
PBO fiber preforms the best(by layer thickness) for most of my designs. Roughly at between 1/8th to 1/5th the thickness of my bulk armor layer thickness. Aramid fiber or spider silk are decent but less effective; Aramid has better preforming(by layer thickness) than spider silk.
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Post by Lukander on May 26, 2018 22:33:14 GMT
It is worth noting I often use: 4cm RCC, then 8cm Boron Fiber, and finally 2cm Amorphous Carbon layers as my pressure wall/bulk armor layers. Which may influence which spall liner works best.
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Post by treptoplax on May 26, 2018 23:54:20 GMT
Spider silk is cheap and reasonably effective; if you don't care about cheap just use more. Arimid costs much more, has iirc similar performance but resists lasers well. I mostly build based on cost, so YMMV.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on May 27, 2018 0:49:28 GMT
I usually aim for more or less stock-like cost/mass ratio - reasoning being that getting mass from A to B costs as well, and those costs are baked into this ratio. Plus, not being able to use materials or construction tricks because of being cheapskate is not fun.
The thing that piqued my curiosity about PBO was its strength in conjunction with large gap between yield and ultimate - it looked like it could soak a hell of a lot of energy by getting deformed.
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rottenlaserstaruser
New Member
Finally a place on the internet non toxic enough I don't have to use a radiation shield
Posts: 22
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Post by rottenlaserstaruser on Jun 1, 2018 0:28:32 GMT
I have been using nitrile rubber lately, through my incredibly scientific thought process (JK) Rubber = Bendy and sorta strong = Good spall armor but IDK
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Post by lawson on Jul 8, 2018 14:17:09 GMT
I've been using Magnesium as my pressure walls. It doesn't seem to have spall problems in <4cm layers. I also tend to use two Carbon Aerogel layers backed by Magnesium. It's lighter than a thick pressure wall and lasts plenty long.
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Prancer
Junior Member
Jousting in space. We're all Knights of the Stars.
Posts: 57 
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Post by Prancer on Jul 31, 2018 20:23:23 GMT
In theory, I’d say Spider Silk, UHMWPE fiber, boron filament, liquid crystal polymer fiber, aramid fiber, and PBO fiber are your best bets, with the other fibers being too pricy or dense for the performance.
Spider Silk is cheap, has okay performance, with pretty good mass. I see it as the baseline.
UHMWPE fiber is your choice if mass is your number one concern, but it has the highest price. You get what you pay for though with great performance. It doesn’t have great thermal resistance though.
Boron Filament brings in slightly better than UHMWPE-level performance at a cheaper price than spider silk. It is grouped among the densest of the fibers, however, along with Basalt Fiber, Ceramic Oxide Fiber, and S-glass composite
Liquid Crystal Polymer Fiber is basically Kevlar in liquid crystal form. It is the poor man’s Aramid with a minor drop in price, performance + no longer doubles as anti-laser armor.
Aramid Fiber is your choice if you want to pay 20% more for a fairly equivalent increase in performance + safe use temperature. I’d go with it, since it doubles as laser protection. The price is very high though.
PBO Fiber has okay density, very high price, but amazing tensile strength with low yield strength. This stuff must probably catches spalling like no tomorrow.
As of now, I’m personally testing with Boron Filament and PBO, after using spider silk exclusively for a long time.
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