Material for shrapnel shielding
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:40 am
I've got a semi-working pneumatic which I may want to carry around pressurized for a few minutes before actually firing. So I'm planning on sleeving it in another tube to as a shield. What have you tried? The pressure is < 100psi with Sched 40. Anyone done burst tests to validate this?
1) Duct tape -- someone mentioned lots of duct tape would keep PVC shrapnel from flying. Saw some other post that said it was ludicrous.
2) ABS tube -- the tensile strength and the ability to stretch is supposed to stop the shrapnel. Again, saw another post somewhere that said this was hogwash and that sharp PVC will go through it.
3) A pant leg from denim jeans -- Hmmm?
4) Double thick PVC via couplers -- this may be harder to pull off depending on the dimensions and whether you can file off the divider properly. Also not applicable if you've already built the cannon.
5) Sched 80 tube -- A higher thickness tube, begs the question why you didn't use it in the first place. Only caveat is UV rays will make it brittle unlike ABS, so its shielding value will degrade over time.
6) Chikenwire -- hmmm?
7) ABS tube + galvanized iron sheet -- cut up and roll. Drill holes to bolt on -- just a brain storm, no idea if its practical.
8) ABS tube + fill foam -- just thought of this now -- a kind of ablative armor to absorb the kinetic forces before reaching the ABS. But then this may cause the end cap to fly instead if the gases don't escape from the tube.
Every shield works by absorbing the kinetic energy of the projectile. If a chamber can explode at a certain pressure I guess the best way to test it, short of blowing up a chamber, is to fire a projectile from a cannon to the material in question at point blank range going as close to maximum pressure as possible. Anyone tried similar shielding before? Or maybe dropped a pressurized spud gun?
1) Duct tape -- someone mentioned lots of duct tape would keep PVC shrapnel from flying. Saw some other post that said it was ludicrous.
2) ABS tube -- the tensile strength and the ability to stretch is supposed to stop the shrapnel. Again, saw another post somewhere that said this was hogwash and that sharp PVC will go through it.
3) A pant leg from denim jeans -- Hmmm?
4) Double thick PVC via couplers -- this may be harder to pull off depending on the dimensions and whether you can file off the divider properly. Also not applicable if you've already built the cannon.
5) Sched 80 tube -- A higher thickness tube, begs the question why you didn't use it in the first place. Only caveat is UV rays will make it brittle unlike ABS, so its shielding value will degrade over time.
6) Chikenwire -- hmmm?
7) ABS tube + galvanized iron sheet -- cut up and roll. Drill holes to bolt on -- just a brain storm, no idea if its practical.
8) ABS tube + fill foam -- just thought of this now -- a kind of ablative armor to absorb the kinetic forces before reaching the ABS. But then this may cause the end cap to fly instead if the gases don't escape from the tube.
Every shield works by absorbing the kinetic energy of the projectile. If a chamber can explode at a certain pressure I guess the best way to test it, short of blowing up a chamber, is to fire a projectile from a cannon to the material in question at point blank range going as close to maximum pressure as possible. Anyone tried similar shielding before? Or maybe dropped a pressurized spud gun?