Prof. patents Glow Ammo

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, Andy Hollerman, Ph.D., of the Physics Department received long-awaited good news: six claims on the patent for Glow Ammo, a new form of tracer ammunition developed by Hollerman and two UL Lafayette students, had finally been approved.

"It's the old Doc Brown thing from ‘Back to the Future,'" said Hollerman. "I've invented something that works."

Although traditional tracers are ignited by burning powder and produce a trail of burning phosphorous, Glow Ammo uses a "cold light" technology which lends to an inflammable practice for firearms users, causes less strain on their weapons and can only be viewed from the shooter's point of view. Although Hollerman is not at liberty to expose the inner workings of the innovation, he shared the basic idea that sparked the process of its creation.

"It always fascinated me, when I was a boy, how when you bite into a wintergreen Lifesaver it would flash," said Hollerman. "I was amazed by that. I would sit there for hours and watch the little sparks. That's called triboluminescence: light produced from rubbing or breaking crystals."

The project began out of research a student was doing for Hollerman on a related topic around 2004. Since then, other students of Hollerman have aided in the creation in various ways, many of them having served in the military and/or students with experience in firearms. One student was Brady Broussard, the president of BMB Guns in Milton, who offered reloading expertise and the facilities to develop the product off-campus. Broussard is also one of the co-inventors of the Glow Ammo concept.

"There was a lot of luck here," said Hollerman. "To get Brady like that out of my physics class. I'm very grateful. This is just one of those things that worked out."

One challenge facing Glow Ammo is marketing to large bullet and gun manufacturers. Typical manufacturers are set up to make millions to billions of rounds of ammunition, while Glow Ammo is manufacturing thousands of rounds. Still, with continued demand for ammunition, Hollerman aims to bring his product to the masses, hopefully from Louisiana.