Bomb-Proof Wallpaper



X-Flex wallpaper is designed to hold together even under extreme stresses, such as a bomb detonation. It's hoped that this invention by Berry Plastics will make buildings more secure from attack in dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan:

[...]this lifesaving adhesive is designed for use anyplace that’s prone to blasts and other lethal forces, like in war or natural-disaster zones, chemical plants or airports. To keep a shelter’s walls from collapsing in an explosion and to contain all the flying debris, you simply peel off the wallpaper’s sticky backing, apply the rollable sheets to the inside of brick or cinder-block walls, and reinforce it with fasteners at the edges. Covering an entire room can take less than an hour.

X-Flex bonds so tightly, it helps walls keep their shape after blast waves. Two layers are strong enough to stop a blunt object, like a flying 2x4, from knocking down drywall. During our tests, just a single layer kept a wrecking ball from smashing through a brick wall. The wallpaper’s strength and ductility is derived from a layer of Kevlar-like material sandwiched by sheets of elastic polymer wrap.


The video above is a demonstration by Popular Science of the technology's effectiveness.

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009/product/x-flex-blast-protection-system via DVICE

The one problem I see is that if the structure is affected by a bomb blast the frame will collapse. You would have to an extra wall away from the frame about 4 feet to be effective. Great idea.:p
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We had bomb-proof film over the plate-glass window at a place I worked at once - it was next to an army recruiting office while the IRA were busy. I always wondered whether instead of being hit with shards of glass we'd all just get pushed down the building like a piston instead.
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the scenario only illustrate the possibility of a bomb detonate somewhere outside of the building, what if the bomb goes off inside the building? like the one in Hilton, Indonesia?
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ngan: In that case, you WANT the wall to blow out, in order to dissipate the blast wave. Containing the blast is a good way to kill people. In most institutional settings where large compressed gas or explosive tanks are stored, they're kept on an outside wall specifically designed to channel the blast away from the building occupants.

This stuff is super elegant from a mechanical perspective, though it seems like it won't work well with existing construction where the most accessible layers are the thinnest. You'd need to have it stuck to a fairly thick wall to take full advantage of it.
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as someone whose home sustained damage from Hurricane Ike, I want to know how, would a house wrapped in this stuff hold up to a hurricane or tornado???
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