New Body Armor Passes Tests

From the US Patent Office website,

Experimental testing has demonstrated that the system 100 is effective to defeat an AP bullet fired from a rifle at point-blank range (e.g. at impact V.sub.p.apprxeq.850 meters/second). Applications include, but are not limited to, body armor for infantry soldiers and law enforcement agencies, integral armor or armor appliques for vehicles such as aircraft, helicopters, and cars. Other uses include military applications, such as used in conjunction with ground vehicles or amphibious assault vehicles. Thus, the system 100 for protection against a projectile 105 having a speed, or velocity V.sub.p, comprises an accelerating layer 110, a plug layer 120, and (optionally) an energy absorbing layer 130. Typically, the plug layer 120 is planar to the accelerating layer 110 and the energy absorbing layer 130 is planar to the plug layer 120. The plug layer 120 includes at least one plug 140. These layers may be adjacent with perhaps an air gap between, but the same concepts could be applied to embodiments with intermediate layers. It is also possible to make the layers non-planar, such as for conforming or conformable clothing or other armoring.

(h/t new scientist)