SOLDIERS and police officers could one day wear hi-tech body armour inspired by prehistoric eel skin scales, according to new research.
The African "dinosaur eel" has survived for 96 million years thanks to its light, multi-layered design of scales, helping to deflect the pressure of the crunching bite of its own kind or close relatives.
A team from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in Boston, which is funded by the US army, found that nature has created its own system to force cracks to run in a circle around a puncture, rather than spreading through the entire scale.
Polypterus senegalus lives at the bottom of freshwater, muddy shallows and estuaries in Africa and has scales made from multiple layers of material, each about 100 millionths of a metre thick.
The study leader, Dr Christine Ortez, of MIT's department of materials science and engineering, said: "Such fundamental knowledge holds great potential for the development of improved, biologically-inspired structural materials, for example soldier, first-responder and military vehicle armour applications.
Many of the design principles we describe – durable interfaces and energy-dissipating mechanisms, for instance – may be translatable to human armour systems."
The research, reported in the online issue of the journal Nature Materials, describes how the eel's layers complement one another to protect soft body tissues. Scientists surgically removed a scale, then mimicked a biting attack. They found the armour's clever design contained the damage caused by the attack.
Instead of spreading through the entire scale, as would occur in many ceramic materials, the crack that appeared ran in a circle around the penetration site and was confined.
A number of different factors, including the make-up and thickness of the layers, their sequence and the junctions between them, helped to protect the fish. The effectiveness of body armour has become a significant issue after some soldiers' deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq were blamed on delays in providing adequate protection.
Front-line police officers are issued with a protective vest, but this can weigh up to 4.4lb and is only resistant to some attacks. It is not bullet- or knife-proof and its shape leaves the neck, arms and lower stomach vulnerable, as well as the face and legs.
Some officers, such as armed response teams, can be issued with heavier armour-plated kit. New eel skin technology could lighten the load and mean more effective protection.
