Carbon fiber from bitumen?

Lignin -> Likes and keep it coming.

Some folks describe lignin as paint on cellulose tubes. Actually there are three concentric painted tubes. If that is a fair description, it may be hard to remove the tubes and leave the paint intact.

 

My experience with aircraft is limited to being cargo, but if the aluminum-hulled aircraft of yesteryear are anything like the HMMWVs that I was forced to put sensors in, then, yeah, you're going to want to stay away from hull grounding.

The pictorial reference to flight 587 underscored some of the other growing pains that the airline industry have dealt with in using composites over aluminium. Composites HAVE successfully replaced aluminum in the aerospace industry but they're still kinda pricey.

Plant based or other organic composites (Spider silk?! )will probably BE used in BEVs some day, but first we have to finish developing BEVs......and be able to successfully market them as a viable replacement for petrol cars.

Building a car body out of a materiel that's 20x more expensive and leads to other downstream costs such as doubling the amount of copper wire and having to deal with other developmental issues leans away from that.

The 1983, original M998 A0 Hummer cost about $70,000.
The replacement?


$220,000

And I thought PRIUSES looked funny.

 

Instead of looks, the replacement is designed to handle real explosives and light arms. The Hummer looked and worked like an easy target.

Bob Wilson

 

Explosively formed penetrator - Wikipedia

The enemy always get a vote.

You're still gonna want an MRAP, preferably with some Israeli mods - or?
As the honorable Mr Miagi would advise.....
"No be there."

I didn't see anything that detailed the JLTV's construction but in a vain attempt to swerve back into composites, they might be used as an anti-spalling barrier.

 

The Monroe Effect has been around since the turn of the 19th Century. It was used in WWI. From Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and, since the beginning of time when one person interact with another in the contest between when one develops an "armored" defense, another competitor will develop a weapon or penetrator that overcomes it.

All armour provides only a "degree" of protection. In the 1960's with the M113 personnel carrier and the Bradley, it was T7075 aluminum. Composites are just another step in the evolution of armour.

The major issue with composites is initial cost and the cost of and the logistics of damage repair.

 

I think you got spell checked.
The Monroe effect HAS been around since the 1800's but involves a different penetrating agent.
Fun Fact:
James didn't come up with it, but got to claim ownership because: POTUS.

As far as the Munroe effect.....like I said, the enemy always gets a vote.
If you're doing counter-insurgency or "nation building?"

They get to vote more once.

Carbon versus Kevlar wars are already well established.
Better living through petroleum....

However (comma!)
We've been provided with all the tools we need to make all the tools we need.
In other words, "plant based" is starting to come into vogue in areas like medicine and.....(wait for it!) replacing items like Kevlar and Carbon as initially posted.

 

The 1800's is the nineteenth Century. Likewise, the RPG-7 and its prior incarnations, was the Soviet response to the WWII panzerfaust.

 

BIological materials are pretty nifty. Never get a chance to talk about Macadamia nuts here. Shells are absurdly strong but little germinating roots can pop right through. Nanotechnology before technology.

On the animal side, 'mother of pearl' is absurdly strong considering it is limestone chunks covered with protein paste. More nano, possibly in ballistic vests of the future.

Kevlar (and nomex) remind me of nylon (and polyurethane) because of all plastic polymers, only those contain nitrogen. This is important for those looking at pathways for microbial decomposition of plastics. Cause microbes love them some N.