Scientists are constantly amazing their audience and even outdoing themselves in the field of innovation. Just recently, researchers studying durability at the University of South Carolina experimented with a product that is right off the shelves of our favourite discount stores. Ordinary white T-shirts that are available at Walmarts nation wide could possibly save your life one of these days. Why? It's simple. A combination of the most basic scientific elements, carbon and boron. Scientists realized that by joining these two elements, the level of durability is increased, yet the lightweight fit still remains. This is called boron carbide, a material that is commonly used to protect army tanks in warfare. For those that are not scientifically educated, Boron carbide when made correctly is the third most solid element found on Earth. It is in stark contrast with cotton, a softer, more flexible material which is found in many clothes the public buys today.
However, the combination of these two polar opposites may in fact bode well for protection purposes. Boron carbide has been used in army tanks and bullet proof vests with thick amounts of the element scattered throughout the material. Xiaodong Li, a scientist at USC practically approaches this new innovation with a positive end result. "The current boron carbide armour is strong, but it is not flexible and it's very heavy...we tried to solve this problem but with a different approach. In our approach, we used cotton T-shirts." The difficulty with this experiment was discovering a functional way in which the two elements would fuse with each other to create this durable, light weight material. The hardest part was allowing the boron to dissolve into the threads of the cotton fabric, leaving the resulting, boron carbide.
After testing the white t-shirts through dipping strips into vats of boron solution, the scientists found that an hour later, the experiment had proven to be successful. Baked at a scorching 1,000 degrees, the heat extracted all elements except for carbon and boron, thus allowing for the two to amalgamate into a solid, breathable like material. The preliminary results predict the future of this experiement as Li deems the first attempt promising for bulletproof t-shirts. Though the altered fabric is largely dissimilar to the original, it still retains its light, bendable and tough properties. The boron carbide interestingly enough, also serves as a shield for ultra violet rays eliminating the chances of radioactive materials to come in contact with the skin. As far as the future, Li says that this new innovation is positive and almost inevitable. It could be used in the construction of aircraft carriers and even assist in manufacturing fuel efficient cars. Body armour is just one of the many results from boron carbide, it does not stop here.
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