you should check out 3M (or a cheaper Amazon knock-off brand) security window film. the "thickest" tends to run in the 8-10mil range which will be thinner than any effective coating that you can smear on. It's also made to do pretty much exactly what you're looking for: which is to 1: make it a little more resistant to cracking, and 2: keep a window in place even it the glass is cracked / shattered. If you fully enveloped a piece of ceramic (front, back and sealed around the sides) with some of that film, and then laminated that into a composite plate, then I think you'd get very little ceramic falling out of the bottom of the plate.

Hey James, first of all: Thanks A LOT for testing my plate suggestion! This was by far one of your coolest videos so far and I really enjoyed the editing, you're definitely improving! I was very happy to see how the plate held up, especially after seeing that the first hit didn't even leave a bulge at the back! I also really like your idea of using polyurethane glues as a coating for the porcelain tiles, the flex glue indeed seems to be very effective! I'm looking forward to more videos of you testing polyurethane coatings and also the more professional one that you briefly mentioned. Very curious to see how we can keep improving on the plate design!

Nice. I'd still like to suggest at least testing 2 inch (or so) hexagonal ceramic tiles instead of big monolithic squares. In theory, a bullet strike will only wreck one small hexagon and not extend beyond to neighboring tiles.

I think ur onto something here, this got me thinking, it would sure be awesome to be able to make your own ceramic at home, that way you could control the thickness of it and the shape

At an unsupervised range I once foolishly let off a round at an unsafe distance at a piece of 5/8" melamine board. Makarov caliber. I felt it come back past me. Lucky. What impressed me is how little it did to the board. The hard, slick, surface was hard for the bullet to bite into. Laminate sheets are cheap.

Great videos! Just an idea, instead of using "large" tiles that shattered at the first impact have you thought about using one or two layers (so it covers gaps if over lapping) of mosaic tiles? Benefits could be: go around curves with ease and if one piece is compromise the rest of them are still intact, the down side would be added weight.... Thanks for the work

My gosh, this content is dang entertaining and super informative. Tech's providing a valuable service!

I used to work at a plastics shop as their CNC router programmer/operator and they had a conversation piece on the front counter that consisted of two 1/2" polycarbonate sheets screwed together . This piece had several 6 mm and .30-06 rounds which had been stopped at the intersection between the two plates

I wonder if it would work if you ground up or powdered ceramic tiles and then mixed it with the different elastomers to make something like a ceramic composite with the elastomer as the matrix. You could experiment with different ratios of ceramic to elastomer as well as how fine the ceramic was broken down. I imagine you could find some combination that would be far more robust than an elastomer coated ceramic plate, but close to it in terms of stopping power. Though probably not as good in stopping power. You could also try mixing in ceramic with HDPE. I found you from Taofledermaus' video on the plates you sent him. I love this kind of stuff and your approach is very scientific. I subbed. I work in the plastics industry and we typically mix in various types of fillers (glass, carbon, talc and other fillers) to improve some characteristic we wouldn't get with just a polymer. I would hope you might be able to use this to improve your plates even more.

Really liking the videos the quality and editing are really good.

One thing to try with this might be to build a mold out of something the coatings won't stick to, and cast the ceramic inside the coating instead of spreading it on. Would allow for easier use of the ones that have a runny consistency, and let you get thicker coatings of the runny materials without having to apply a coat, wait for it to cure, and repeat.

I can vouch for how gentle you have to be with military ceramic plates lol

Very smart. I'm going make the weight drop device and add a metal tip in the shape of a bullet to the end of it, as well as making sure the force of the impact equals to that of a rifle round.

Holy crap this video IS monetized :O good job! xD

Top layer idea: 36 grit sandpaper to deform/fragment the round on impact.

One of my favorite channels! Please don’t stop making videos! It’d be cool to see you test other plastics like ABS, nylon, or UHMW and compare their performance to hdpe! You should try dropping the polymer coated ceramic on its edge to see how well it resists and holds together. I’d be interested to see how bed liner works with resisting cracks! We always see it used to protect against spalling and shrapnel but I feel like it might have good properties to protect against fracturing!

I'd like to see the ceramic tiles in-bedded in the milk jug plastics during the forming process then wrapped in fiberglass .

Greetings from sunny Britain! Us preppers over here are more concerned with stab/slash resistant gear, but still, absolutely fascinating channel.

The force of an AK round is equivalent to a 25 lb. weight falling 25 feet. Hope this helps your research.

Your videos are getting really good.

Two overlapped layers of hex tile sheets glued together with the urethane glue... you could make it dry it in a pre shaped form to fit your whole chest and even wrap under your arms!

Also, try adding something to the epoxy to make it stay together better, try steel wool or some wire mesh, Im sure it will increase the ability of it staying together for longer

"in the end I don't want my ceramics to fall apart before a bullet hits them" I definitely think it would be a plus 😂

As far as height for dropping an object, the acceleration curve straightens out at about 30 meters.

You should sand the ceramic tiles to make them more abrasive so the bonding materials will seep into the ceramic making them more crack resistant. (well potentially, its worth a test)

you could also try to use multiple thin layers of mild steel (like 1.5mm [= 1/16 inch] or 0.75mm [1/32 inch] ) with some of thoose silicone/rubber/polyurethane-like paste that you used for your ceramic protypes, beetween each steel layer (something like paste-steel-paste-steel-paste-steel-paste-steel-paste ) and see how it perform

I'm sure you have thought about it, but how about multiple layers of the coatings with kevlar and/or screen wire between? Thanks from a new subscriber. I really appreciate your experiments.

Really cool. Have you thought of making a jig that uses a big lever to compress the mold? Couple of 2x4 and a 1/2in pin. Maybe some more.

14:20 *O R E O*

this is awesome work! your channel has kind of a TAOFLEDERMAUS vibe, it would be cool to see some sort of colab

I wish you'd done the drop test on the tape wrapped tile you know is .223 resistant.

Try using a fiberglass mesh to keep it from sharding.

Consider the idea of slipping layers.

Have you heard of or considered d30 on the back (or anywhere) on an armor set up? It's a non-newtonian that is flexible but hardens on impact. Used in motorcycle gear and hockey/lacrosse equipment, impressive stuff, not bulletproof. That's kind of the idea though, none of these materials are bulletproof by themselves but finding the best combination of layers is the goal. Also, what kind of steel are you using? How thick? Is it hardened at all? I was thinking if you had very thin ar500 that was thinner at the top and overlapped like old cedar roof shingles, that could spread the energy out and keep costs down since it's not a big piece. I really should be working but can't stop thinking of ideas for this.

Watching this until the coatings and having seen the video from taofledermaus, can't remember if you did this though, but heat the ceramic and melt it into the HDPE until it's completely in there?

I also thought laminated tyvek would be a good material for an inner lining.

How do think a full treated body armour sized and plate stand up to this, also how would you mount these plates into a carrier ?

Apparently woven seat belts can be effective

Because plates present a flat surface and can't move they are vulnerable. Scale armor is the way to go.

awesome of it stops more then one round I dont know about you but if I am taking hits to my armor I am not in position and will remove myself from the situation so the 1 or 2 rounds that it stops is more then enough you are not going to stand and fight till you are hit 5 or 6 times unless its your last stand then you will go till the end if not you take hits... you GET ... besides armor is not a bullet magnet they can hit you anywhere on your body so thats not fun

things of interest: sand in resin, quick-field-patch

Noice!

A point on the end of your weight, perhaps using a bullet would yield more information.

You almost completely left out and did not that first 1/4" shock absorbing material.