Carbon nanotubes are being probed for their potential as the most bullet-proof material known to human kind.

Australian researchers Professor Liangchi Zhang and Dr Kausala Mylvaganam from the University of Sydney report on their study of the bullet-bouncing ability of carbon nanotubes in the current issue of the journal Nanotechnology.

"Then the nanotube tries to recover elastically, and transfer back the energy to the bullet."

Most bullet-proof materials are made of ultra high-strength polymers like Kevlar, Twaron or Dyneema fibres.

Sub-microscopic hollow fibres of pure carbon, called carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are more elastic than these materials.

This means they are better at absorbing energy and reducing the impact of a bullet.

Being only around 1 to 100 nanometres in diameter and millimetres long, CNTs are also very strong and light, which make them good candidates for future bullet-proof materials.