Within the next few years, scientists believe that they will be able to make body armor from silk. Currently, soldiers must wear armor made of heavy, cumbersome materials. These bulky vests and outfits make it difficult to move and the weight slows the wearer down. If silk can be converted into a kind of body armor, it would become the strongest, lightest and most flexible armor on the market.
Better Protection
Instead of armor that reduces agility, silk offers a better alternative. Law enforcement officials in the United States currently wear Kevlar to protect their body from damage. Described as five times stronger than steel, Kevlar is still far weaker than spider silk. Each strand of spider silk can be more than five times stronger than steel and offers three times the flexibility of Kevlar. This ultra-strong material is lighter than Kevlar and is able to absorb large impacts.
Challenges
Despite the obvious benefit of having silk in body armor, there are still significant obstacles barring its usage. Until recently, it was impossible to manufacture large enough quantities of silk. With the advent of silk-producing goats, scientists are becoming closer to their goal of creating silken armor.
Previously, attempts at farming spiders had failed miserably. When in a closed environment, many kinds of spiders will start to fight or kill each other. Detrimental to a farm’s production levels, this also put massive scale silk production out of the reach of scientists until recent advances.
One way of producing large quantities of silk is easily done with silkworms. Although the silk is much more fragile, a team at the Rakamangala Institute of Technology in Thailand managed to make a set of body armor out of it that is capable of withstand bullets.
If science continues to advance in the field of genetics, researchers may one day be able to create armor out of the bark spider silk. Known as the strongest silk on the planet, bark spider silk is 100 percent stronger than any other form of silk known to man. Once this silk is produced on a large scale, it will be included in fishing ropes, parachutes, armor and artificial tendons. Until that time, scientists can only dream about the possibilities.
If science continues to advance in the field of genetics, researchers may one day be able to create armor out of the bark spider silk. Known as the strongest silk on the planet, bark spider silk is 100 percent stronger than any other form of silk known to man. Once this silk is produced on a large scale, it will be included in fishing ropes, parachutes, armor and artificial tendons. Until that time, scientists can only dream about the possibilities.
