Blast/impact mitigation shield
A method of manufacturing a shield by fabricating a plunger plate to include outwardly extending blades on one surface thereof and coupling the plunger plate to a body of damping material with blades of the plunger plate adjacent the body of damping material. The damping material is configured to transition from a solid to a non-flowing viscous fluid state locally near the blades of the plunger plate as they are driven into the body.
1. A method of manufacturing a shield, the method comprising:
fabricating a plunger plate to include outwardly extending blades on one surface thereof; and
coupling the plunger plate to a body of damping material with blades of the plunger plate adjacent the body of damping material, the damping material configured to transition from a solid to a non-flowing viscous fluid state locally near the blades of the plunger plate as they are driven into the body.
2. The method of claim 1 in which the plunger plate is formed as a truncated-V shape, a V-shape or a double V-shape.
3. The method of claim 1 further including sandwiching the body between a hull plate and the plunger plate.
4. The method of claim 3 in which the hull plate further includes blades extending outwardly therefrom adjacent the body.
5. The method of claim 3 in which the hull plate is formed as a truncated-V shape or a V-shape.
6. The method of claim 3 further including stiffening the hull plate and/or plunger plate.
7. The method of claim 3 further including adding damping material on top of the hull plate.
8. The method of claim 1 in which the body is formed in sections.
9. The method of claim 1 in which the body includes plies.
10. The method of claim 1 in which the body and plunger plate are configured to extend over only a portion of an undercarriage of a vehicle.
11. The method of claim 1 in which the body and the plunger plate are configured to extend over a majority of the undercarriage of a vehicle.
12. The method of claim 1 in which the plunger plate is side mounted to a vehicle.
13. The method of claim 1 in which the body is formed to include grooves receiving the blade of the plunger plate therein.
14. The method of claim 13 further including forming grooves on the other surface of the body.
15. The method of claim 14 further including sandwiching the body between a hull plate and the plunger plate.
16. The method of claim 15 in which the hull plate further includes blades sections extending outwardly therefrom adjacent the body.
17. The method of claim 16 in which the body grooves receiving the blades of the plunger plate therein are offset from the grooves receiving the blades of the hull plate therein.
18. The method of claim 1 in which the damping material is ultra high molecular weight polyethylene.
19. The method of claim 18 in which the damping material has an acceptable specific heat of fusion greater than 120 J/g.
20. The method of claim 19 in which the preferable specific heat of fusion is greater than 190 J/g.
21. The method of claim 18 in which the damping material has a molecular weight preferably greater than 3.5 million.
22. The method of claim 1 further including adding a second body including damping material in a solid state and which transitions to a non-flowing viscous fluid state when stressed.
23. The method of claim 22 in which said plunger plate is between the bodies.
24. The method of claim 1 further including adding a second plate.
25. The method of claim 24 in which said plunger plate is configured to be adjacent a vehicle hull and said body is between said plunger plate and said second plate.
26. The method of claim 25 in which said second plate is configured as a plunger plate.