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RHINO Body Armor
Okay, okay. Maybe I was a bit cranky. No a/c, two restless kids, a restless dog, can't fuckin' breathe in this weather, and I hadn't gotten baked yet...
<<...inhale deeply....hold....little squeek of a cough.....cough and exhale...rinse & repeat...>>
Ahhh...better now. Maybe I'll just calm the hell down and let this thread go dormant 'til I can try wunna these bad boys out.
Oh, and Chuck? Don't suppose you'll have a model that'll circulate cold water throughout....:D
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RHINO Body Armor
:smoker Ahhhh I'm good now too:D
I think that I have quite a good visual of the product he is developing without seeing it because of all the questions asked here, this is a good thing. Damn I even looked at new pants last night but just couldn't do it, but I checked out the armor that was in it because I have been following this saga. (pants were way too bulky)
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RHINO Body Armor
The response from everyone has been great. As has been said it's to be expected that people would have many questions. I'm glad they do. This is an excellent baord to bounce thoughts off of and the responses will make for the best product possible. Cool water through the armor, as silly as it sounds, and yes, it's a silly idea since practically any substrate material temperature will rise (even ice melts) almost immediately when subjected to 110-115 degree F heat (typical in a race suit). We have also tried freezing the material (as well as torch testing for use in automotive sports). Our material will not be open cell, therefore, water won't go through it. We did do a series of tests early on with open cell material but found that it's memory rebound was too fast. We opted to go with the most shock absorbing material we could find instead. Also, we just contracted a series of tests to be performed using different densities and perforations...the result...drumroll please. Very interesting. Perforation doesn't do much of anything UNLESS the material is pulled away from the skin surface and the outside introduced air is allowed to pass over the skin's surface. Also, the thicker the material, the more holes needed to produce any effect, and the less the impact resistance. We upped the density blend, but since the material will not be pulled away from the body to allow air flow (and even a back protector that is placed in the back of a suit doesn't allow for much static flow), the end result was that you could punch holes into it like swiss cheese, and even engineer the heavier density to equate to a lighter more flexible one by removing a specific amount of material, but the cooling effect vs. no perforation is nil. I just signed off to authorize testing of a thinner substrate for the chest and hip armor and several tests of covering materials, which is the next step in the final development process.