It is called AuxDefense and it is a Portuguese consortium funded by the Ministry of National Defense. Focused on the area of defense-orientated materials, the aim is to develop protective equipment for the military which may be lighter and resistant to the impact, cut and drilling. It includes an helmet, a vest, knee pads and elbow pads, all bulletproof.
“It is a multidisciplinary project, multifaceted as well, according to a typology that is very interesting to universities due to the fact that we undertake product-oriented research”, the coordinator of the project from the EEUM, Raul Fangueiro, explains.
The partnership joins UMinho, the Army, the Air Force, but also five Portuguese companies from the Northern region, such as Latino Confeções, LMA, Fibrauto, IDT Consulting and Sciencentris. Italso counts on the support of the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong (China) and British Plymouth University. Raul Fangueiro highlights that partnerships between the scientific system, companies and government entities are “fundamental to obtain results that enhance what is investigated in universities, but also to turn those same results into products that may be economic capital gains”.
Regarding the applicability of the project, the researcher underlines that personal protective equipment “may achieve weight reduction values around 20%” as far as military mobility is concerned and this percentage “will be a good target for this phase of development”. For these results, a methodology was applied using nanotechnology and auxetic materials, textiles that counteract the forces applied to them.
After the development phase, the product homologation stage is followed and finally the national and international marketing. “In this specific market for protection equipment, the Army and Armed Forces serve almost as product certifiers, as elements of product study to valorize it in the international market”, Raul Fangueiro ensures.
The AuxDefense consortium counts on 782 thousand euros of funding, 89% from the Ministry of National Defense, and runs until 2018.
