制造更加轻便灵活的防弹衣

Over the centuries, body armor has been hindered by a common problem: The more resistant the protection, the more difficult it is for the wearer to move and maneuver. From the bronze plating of the ancient Greeks to the chain mail of the Middle Ages to, in more recent history, the age of bullet- and flame-resistant fibers, personal armor has been equally a blessing and the bane for soldiers in battlefields.

几个世纪以来，人体防护产品的发展始终受到一个常见问题的阻碍：防护产品的保护能力越强，穿戴者的行动就越不方便。从古希腊时期的青铜盔甲到中世纪使用的锁子甲，再到现代使用的避弹和阻燃纤维，个人防护装备对于战场上的士兵来说是福也是祸。

Now, scientists are looking at substances known as 'non-Newtonian fluids' to create effective forms of padding in protective items that are lightweight and flexible. Unlike water, non-Newtonian fluids change their behavior when external pressure is applied to them, such as thickening when stirred hard.

现在，科学家们正在研究使用“非牛顿流体(non-Newtonian fluids)制造高性能填充物，从而用在轻便、灵活的防护产品中。和水不一样，非牛顿流体可以在遇到外力的时候改变性状，比如在猛烈搅动的情况下变得更加浓稠。

An example is the toy Silly Putty: It flows as a very thick, slow-moving substance over a long period but breaks or bounces as a solid when pressure is applied to it.

硅胶泥玩具Silly Putty就是一个例子。作为一种非常浓稠、缓慢流动的物质，它可以长时间处于流动状态，而在遇到压力的时候，它又会像固体一样断裂或弹跳。

Researchers have been focusing on the behaviors of various non-Newtonian fluids in their quest for new materials that can be used in body armor.

为寻找可用于人体防护装备的新材料，研究人员一直在关注多种非牛顿流体的性状。

The idea that such substances could be used in bulletproof vests and military applications has been around for several years, and researchers are now stepping up their efforts to apply this technology not only to professional body armor, but also to commercial products, with the greatest potential seen in protective sportswear.

将这类物质用于防弹背心和军事装备的想法已经存在多年，现在研究人员除了将这种技术用于专业人体防护装备，还在加大努力将它用于商用产品。这方面的最大潜力被认为存在于保护性运动服装当中。

The reduction in the weight of body armor is crucial in not only helping military combat troops and law-enforcement officers do their jobs more efficiently, but also in encouraging them to keep it on at all times while on duty.

人体防护装备重量的减轻之所以非常重要，不仅因为它有助于提高军事战斗人员和执法人员的效率，也因为这会鼓励他们在执行任务期间时刻穿戴。

In the history of modern body armor, the invention of Kevlar, a heat resistant and tightly structured synthetic fiber, by DuPont Co. DD -0.89% in the 1960s was a landmark.

20世纪60年代杜邦公司(DuPont Co.)发明凯夫拉纤维(Kevlar)，是现代人体防护装备历史上的一个标志性事件。凯夫拉是一种结构严密、具有阻热性能的合成纤维。

This material has helped reduce the weight of bulletproof vests significantly, compared with those made of chrome and steel in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Kevlar typically gives four-to-five times the strength of steel protection of the same weight.

借助于这种材料，防弹背心的重量相比19世纪和20世纪初期铬、钢制造的防弹衣大大减轻。在重量相同的情况下，凯夫拉的防护能力常常是钢板的四到五倍。

Kevlar has been a ubiquitous part of military and homeland security body armor since the 1980s and it is now also found in a range of other protective items such as motorcycle clothing. Other technologies, such as the ceramic chain-mail-like Dragon Skin, have also found a place in the armor market.

20世纪80年代以来，凯夫拉在军事和国安防护装备中无处不在，现在还存在于摩托车服等其他一系列防护产品之中。其他技术也在防护市场上占据了一席之地，比如像锁子甲一样的陶制龙鳞甲(Dragon Skin)。

Armor products that use Kevlar are able to stop bullets from penetrating the layers of protection. But they are less able to protect the wearer against the mitigated but still considerable direct impact of the bullet's force.

使用凯夫拉的防护产品可以防止子弹穿透保护层。不过，子弹力道的直接冲击虽有减轻但仍不可低估，它们在这方面的防护能力就要弱一些。

To solve this problem, such products typically require additional protective layers of metal inside Kevlar for reinforcement.

为解决这个问题，这些产品往往都需要在凯夫拉之内加装保护性金属层，以增强防护性能。

Many law-enforcement professionals, for whom such protection was designed, still find body armor cumbersome, uncomfortable and an impediment to their official day-to-day duties.

由于这种设计，很多执法人员仍然觉得防护装备穿起来又笨重又不舒服，对他们执行日常公务是一种妨碍。

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 35.7% of the 541 U.S. police officers killed in the line of duty from 2001 to 2010 weren't wearing body armor.

据联邦调查局(Federal Bureau of Investigation)数据，2001年至2010年有541名警察在执行公务期间死亡，其中35.7%的人没有穿戴防护装备。

Non-Newtonian fluids could, for example, be combined with Kevlar or other materials to create lighter, more comfortable body armor products, removing the need for additional metal or ceramic coatings, according to companies that use the technology.

而将非牛顿流体与凯夫拉或者其他材料结合可以制造出更轻便、更舒适的防弹衣，而且不需要使用额外的金属或陶瓷夹层。

Companies in both the private and public sectors are aggressively seeking to market the application for both military and civilian uses, including Sofshell Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based start-up spun off from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, or IMRE, at Singapore's A*STAR, a government research agency, and one of 12 finalists in The Wall Street Journal's Asian Innovation Awards.

私营和公共部门的公司都在积极将这种技术运用到军事和民用领域，新加坡的初创公司Sofshell Pte. Ltd.就是这样一家企业，该公司是从新加坡政府研究机构A*STAR下属的材料研究与工程研究所(Institute of Materials Research and Engineering)独立出来的。

Sofshell started in 2010 as a science education outreach display that attempted to show the shock resistant properties of a slurry of corn flour and water, a non-Newtonian fluid; an egg falling onto the mixture was able to remain intact.

Sofshell做为一家科学教育拓展机构创办于2010年，该公司试图展示一种非牛顿流体──玉米粉和水混合成的浆糊所具有的抗打击属性，鸡蛋落到这种混合物上不会被打破。

It raised an obvious question: Why couldn't the properties of such substances be replicated to protect human bodies or fragile items from sudden shocks?

人们不禁会联想到，为什么我们不能复制这种物质的属性，从而为人体或是脆弱的东西在受到突然的撞击时提供保护呢？

'There was quite a lot of promise from the testing we did at the time with corn flour, but of course we can't use corn flour as a product so we worked on alternatives and better ways of using that property to spread an impact load,' said Davy Cheong, the co-founding chief technology officer at Sofshell.

Sofshell的联合创始人、公司首席技术官Davy Cheong说，我们从对玉米粉的测试中看到了相当大的潜力，当然我们不能把玉米粉当做产品，所以我们正在寻找其他办法，寻找更好的方式使用这一属性来分散撞击力。

When used in body armor, non-Newtonian fluids can spread the impact of incoming objects across the surface area of the padding, Dr. Cheong said.

他说，非牛顿流体被应用到防弹衣上可以分散夹层表面受到的冲击力。

'The first application that we looked at was protective material, but that gradually moved to sportswear and a much wider range of applications that we could find out there in the market,' he said.

Davy Cheong说，我们最初的目标是把该技术应用于保护性材料上，但它的应用领域逐渐转移到运动服方面，以及我们可以在市场上发现的更广泛领域。

Sofshell isn't the only company focusing on the protective qualities of non-Newtonian fluids. British defense firm BAE Systems BA.LN +0.98% PLC and U.K.-based D3O Impact Protection, a predominantly sports product-focused company, are looking to market products for both military and civilian uses.

Sofshell并非唯一一家研究非牛顿流体所具防护特性的公司。英国防务公司BAE Systems BA.LN和总部设在英国的D3O Impact Protection正在寻求把相关产品推向军用和民用市常D3O Impact Protection是一家以运动产品为主营业务的公司。

Sofshell's product, known as ID Flex, received late last year its U.S. National Institute of Justice Type IIIA certification, which means it has been tested and proven effective against .357 SIG and .44 Magnum handguns.

Sofshell的产品叫做ID Flex，去年年末获得了美国国家司法研究所(U.S. National Institute of Justice)颁发的IIIA类证书，这意味着该产品已经经过测试，可以抵御.357 SIG和.44 Magnum手枪的袭击。

Sofshell co-founder and Chief Executive Elgin Yap said the company is in talks with customers about possible military applications. Closely held Sofshell is still in a start-up stage and seeing modest revenues. It still receives government grants to sustain its operations but is seeking private-sector co-investment.

Sofshell的联合创始人兼首席执行长Elgin Yap说，该公司正在与客户谈论开发军用产品的可能性。Sofshell这家非上市公司目前仍处在初创阶段，销售额并不高。该公司依然在依靠政府的补贴维持运营，但是它目前正在寻求来自私营领域的投资。

Away from the battlefield and the police beat, the developers of ID Flex see the greatest commercial potential for the technology in the area of protective sports equipment and hope to have a product out in the market by the end of this year.

除了应用于战场和警方执行的任务中，ID Flex的开发者认为，该产品最大的商业潜力存在于防护型运动装备领域，并希望在今年年底之前在市场上推出这样一款产品。

The company hopes to develop products such as shoe insole padding, fencing gloves, gym mats, helmets and other consumer items.

该公司希望开发出鞋垫内衬、击剑手套、体操垫、头盔和其他消费产品。

Beyond protection of the human body, the growth in portable electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and digital cameras has also driven an ancillary market in protective cases for these devices. 'Even the iPhone has a sentimental value to us now, so this kind of technology protects anything and everything that matters to us. It's not just about our body,' Dr. Yap said.

除了保护人身安全的需要，智能手机、平板电脑和数码相机等便携式电子产品的增多，也推动了设备保护外壳市场的发展。Elgin Yap说，现在甚至iPhone对我们来说也有情感价值，而这种技术可以保护所有对我们来说重要的东西。它不只能够保护我们身体的安全。