A liquid ceramic coating developed by two entrepreneurs in Singapore is meant to strengthen bullet-proof vests against gunfire and bomb fragments, the duo said on Wednesday.
Norman Lim and business partner Richard Lim claim the formula may well beat research at top defence laboratories in the United States.
The coating strengthens materials such as Kevlar, widely used in bullet-proof vests, they told The Straits Times.
The end product weighs only a third of the armour protection from the US military's Army Research Laboratory, providing a key edge as body armour can add about eight kilograms to a soldier's load, the two Lims, both 40, explained.
"My work is all about saving lives," Norman Lim was quoted as saying.
He studied theology in the US state of Oklahoma before pursuing composite materials.
Their tests have shown that a vest made up of 20 layers of paper-thin Kevlar stops a 9 millimetre bullet in the ninth layer.
When treated with the liquid ceramic and resin mixture, the bullet is stopped at the fourth layer, the newspaper reported.
In a thicker form, the coating they developed can be made into a kevlar-like material.
The Lims plan to move their research to California next month.
