A ballistic test showed that graphene can absorb twice the impact of bullet shots compared to the current material used in bulletproof vests.

Graphene is a very thin and nearly transparent sheet of pure carbon. It is lightweight, but 100 times stronger than steel. Scientists have been studying the material and its application such as using for the development of air-powered electric generators, screen displays of smartphones and other electronic devices, improvement of electric cars range and power, and more.

It is long-known that graphene is one of the stronger materials on the planet, but scientists still don't know the extent of its strength. The latest study, led by Jae-Hwang Lee from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, tested its strength through miniature ballistic tests using lasers to fire micro bullets to penetrate the thin layers of graphene. The researchers observed the kinetic energy within the sheets to trace changes, BBC News reported.

"We are the first group to test [graphene] under high speeds comparable to actual bullet speeds,' said Lee in a press release. "We cannot use conventional techniques such as a gun barrel or gunpowder [on this scale]. Instead we used a laser to accelerate a microscale silica bullet [at the multilayer graphene target]."

The analysis showed that graphene was able to absorb the impact of eight to 10 times more than steel can. Furthermore, it is twice stronger than Kevlar, a material often used to make bulletproof vests. The speed of the micro bullets was 6,700 mph or three times the speed of a real bullet, according to the Discovery News.

The researchers identified a disadvantage though. They noticed that the impact holes left on the graphene sheets were wider than steel and other materials that could result in cracks. This could be resolved though by combining graphene with another material.

The results of the ballistic test drew the attention of other experts.

"They have taken a standard laboratory ballistics configuration and demonstrated its utility on microscopic scales," said Neil Bourne, director of the National Centre for Matter under Extreme Conditions in the UK, to the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was not part of the study.

Further details of the study were published in the Nov. 28 issue of Science.