How strong is sheet steel? I am thinking of a rugged Kindle Case?

I want to make an extremely strong case for my kindle, the kind of case where I could sit on it and not cause a problem. I'm also worried about the corners of heavy books hitting it right in the middle and breaking it through the case.

I have thought about sheet steel, flattened PVC and wood.

Wood adds a decent amount of thickness to be rigid enough, and I wouldn't know where to buy thin hardwood planks.

PVC I don't believe is all that rigid once it's been turned into flat sheets.

Sheet steel is readily and cheaply available on Ebay between 0.18mm (0.007 inches, or 36 gauge) and 1.7mm (0.06 inches, or 15 gauge), and probably higher. I don't care about the weight as much as the thinness and strength/rigidity, so I thought sheet steel might be the best option but I've never worked with it. Suggestions?



Edit: I would add some sort of shock protection, ie: neoprene, but it's not dropping that I'm worried about.

The design would be two flat pieces sonnected by a fabric "hinge," similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Marware-Atlas-Kindle-Touch-Cover/dp/B005HSG3L0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1340375705&sr=8-6&keywords=kindle+case

I would add raised edges surrounding the Kindle on the "bottom" piece of metal, so that the two pieces wouldn't squeeze the kindle between them when pressure was added.

Comments

[ballardst]

The carbon fiber looks like the best option unfortunately it seems kind of expensive, although that may be because I can't seem to figure out how many layers of which weight cloth I would need to use

[Burf]

15 gauge sheet steel will not prevent a crushing load from damaging your Kindle. Sheet metal is not nearly rigid enough for that purpose. A U.S. military ammo can would suffice but that's not practical.
What you should be looking to do is distribute the load over as large an area as is possible. As Kiteman says below, I would use a thick piece of heavy cardboard (not corrugated) sandwiched between layers of dense urethane foam and a leather covering. Above all else, don't carry the Kindle in your hip pocket, make a strap or a belt loop if you need to but don't sit on it under any circumstances.

[Kiteman]

The leg pocket of cargo pants is the perfect size for a Kindle.

[steveastrouk]

Carbon fibre FTW.

This is part of a special new telescope I have designed. I have used a "pre-preg" carbon fibre - the resin is already in, wrap a couple of layers around a simple shell, wrap that with shrink wrap, and bake at 100 F for about 8 hours. We cook these things at 230 F, and they go off in an hour, from cold.

[Kiteman]

Steel is probably overkill - I use a "leather" case, which is probably book-cover-card inside, and it survives pretty general abuse - it lives in my pocket or thrown into my laptop bag, in the same pocket as the power supply.

[gruffalo child]

Mine died in the same case in the front pocket of a hiking backpack when it fell over, but, probably, it was just packed badly...

[rickharris]

STRONG + STEEL = HEAVY!

Use plywood if you want something rigid 3mm will do OK and be fairly light.