Despite significant advancements in protection from ballistics and blunt impacts, old military helmets, especially the French Adrian helmet, actually performs better than modern designs, biomedical engineers from Duke University say. Notes researcher Joost Op’t Eynde, “While we found that all helmets provided a substantial amount of protection against blast, we were surprised to find that the 100-year-old helmets performed just as well as modern ones. Indeed, some historical helmets performed better in some respects.” No currently-deployed helmet has been specifically designed for blast protection. Because soldiers today experiencing shock waves while wearing body armour aren’t all that different from soldiers 100 years ago experiencing shock waves while in the trenches, the research could help improve the blast protection of future helmets. It could be through choosing different materials, layering multiple materials of different acoustic impedance, or altering their geometry.
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