A common misnomer for shear thickening is dilatant. They are used interchangeably in common use but mean different things to rheologists (the folks who study these things). Dilatant materials (in the classical definition) are typically powders that under shear change their volume.

The pores between the particles “dilate” or get bigger and hence the name.

And Finally

Not to make matters more confusing we refer to our shear thickening polymer as a Viscoelastic polymer. OK, so what exactly is Viscoelastic? Viscoelasticity is a term used to describe a material that exhibits both viscous (or flow) and elastic properties. Viscosity is a measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow and is often characterized by how “thick” a fluid is. For example: honey has a higher viscosity than water and therefore flows much more slowly. Elasticity is the measure of a material’s “springiness.” Like a tight bed spring, a highly elastic material is difficult to stretch and will “spring” back to its original shape much more forcefully than a weak spring like those found in a ball point pen.

Put together; a viscoelastic fluid behaves much the same way as your car’s suspension system. The elastic part of the fluid acts like the springs on the car and absorbs and returns the force applied to it. Keeping the car analogy, a car with only springs will keep the potholes from damaging the car, but it will still be a bumpy ride as the springs bounce back and forth. Shock absorbers dampen the springs and keep the car from bouncing up and down. In this case the shock absorbers represent the viscous part of the fluid. The more viscous the fluid, the more it will dampen the bouncing of the elastic spring part of the fluid.

Put together the properties of the Polymer/Shear Thickening/Viscoelastic material and viola, you have a new type of protection that will react to the environment around whatever it is protecting. At rest Zoombang will simply conform to the exact shape of whatever it is supporting. Add energy, in the form of shock, and the material will instantly stiffen. No wonder this stuff is being used by hundreds of NFL players.