Shear Thickening Fluid Armour - Poject Idea

[FerroSurfTech]

Fumed Silica is used commonly to thicken products. An industry workhorse is Aerosol 200 from Degussa. It has a primary crystal size of 7 nm. To make it work properly you need to mix it with high shear to disperse it properly. For this you need a homogenizer or high speed mixer. A stick blender might do the job. Proper dispersal will make a big difference to the thickening properties of this mixture.

Pretty sure silica/water mixture liquifiy under shear; the opposite of what you want. Maybe silica/glycols are different.

Nano silica foam is Aerogel isn't it? Made from sio2 condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate.

 

[RexXxMaster]

A stick blender might do the job. Proper dispersal will make a big difference to the thickening properties of this mixture.

Pretty sure silica/water mixture liquifiy under shear; the opposite of what you want. Maybe silica/glycols are different.

Nano silica foam is Aerogel isn't it? Made from sio2 condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate.

I been think of doing a project along these lines to. You could get Lumira® Aerogel granules put that in blender. Plus there something that is harder then glass... And you can buy in 500 nm or less diamond powder! Do you guys think it would work? Or is just glass that works in work in the gel

 

[BK201MXP]

Gosh, i sure hope this thread is still active.

Hey, i was interested in creating some STF too. Where can i purchase Silicon dioxide( Silica Power), ethylene glycol, and ethanol. Is Diatomaceous Earth a good source of silica powder? Depending on the brand it can be 80 to 90% silica. Would these attributes suffice considering that the other 10% is Alumina and Iron Oxide? I am not sure that the silica particles would be small enough considering it is just crushed micro organism fossils. Would a better source of silica be women's make-up? I read somewhere that certain types contain it.

But an even better source would be a professional chemical distribution company. If you know of any it would be of great help.

 

[sauroman1]

Hi

The STF is made up of silica particles (400-500nm) mixed with ethylene glycol, which is then diluted with ethanol for easier absorption into the kevlar.

Interesting to find someone doing experiments. I was also thinking about making liquid armor but I have problem finding silica nanoparticles in my country. But I did find silica dioxide powder but it's particle size is 3000-4000nm. Would these particles work enough effectively? Don't want to risk buying 10kg bag if it's useless. Here's link to product: http://www.topplastas.lt/?id=4&cat=9

I guess any liquid medium could be used but PEG is more stable and take temperature extremes. Maybe antifreeze or even oil would work.