A fascinating look at how bomb-proof suits actually work

…”You see that the technician gets knocked down well before the debris hits him,” says Borkar. “But how is he killed? That’s power of the overpressure wave: because he was relatively close to the device when it exploded, the pulse has probably punctured or collapsed his lungs.”

How the Suit Keeps You Alive
The EOD suit’s rigid outer armor layer, the first and most important defense against this threat, is composed mainly of aramids: high-tech synthetic materials that are “strain-rate sensitive.” In other words, “the faster something hits them, the harder they become,” says Borkar. (Kevlar is simply the brand name of an aramid manufactured by DuPont.) The entire front-facing portion of the suit is reinforced from head to toe with hardened composites of two or more aramids, optimized for strength and lightness. This rigid layer can literally reflect or bounce some of the overpressure energy away from the technician, while also repelling flying fragmentation.

But the overpressure wave inevitably passes…

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Real-life Hurt Locker: How Bomb-Proof suits work

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