Explosion-proof foam

Concussion and longer-lasting brain damage caused by the compression waves from explosions are a growing problem for the military. Carbon foam able to absorb a blast could help tackle that.

A team funded by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Alabama, has developed panels of carbon foam with pores varying in size from 50 micrometres to 2 millimetres.

Carbon foam is made by heat-treating particular materials made from carbon fibres. In tests, panels of the foam absorbed up to 83% of the energy of a blast wave from the detonation of 2 kilograms of C4 explosives at a distance of only 20 centimetres.

This is possible because the foam's pores collapse when hit by a compression wave, absorbing its energy.

The team says the material could be used to protect rooms and vehicles and, if used to enclose explosives, could prevent their accidental detonation when caught in a blast.

Read the full explosion-absorbing foam patent application.