Home // International Journal On Advances in Systems and Measurements, volume 12, numbers 1 and 2, 2019 // View article
Authors:
Henrik Seeber
Arash Ramezani
Keywords: defense engineering; ballistic body armor; fiber-reinforced plastics; ballistic trials; material processing
Abstract:
In the last years, the risk to become a victim of a gun fight or to be involved into an amok situation increased. This leads to a higher demand for ballistic protection of civilians. Therefore, another capability profile for ballistic armor is necessary, compared to the military or police sector. The focal point of civil ballistic armor is wearing comfort, weight and invisibility. This paper provides information about the development of flexible and lightweight ballistic body armor. The manufacturing process is showed, heat- and sag test are presented. Different ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composites, in this case made by Dyneema®, are compared by using ballistic tests and will be discussed below. In this test series Dyneema® hard ballistic (HB) 26, HB50 and soft ballistic (SB) 115 is used. Aim of the project is to create a ballistic body armor, which is flexible, and body fit enough to be worn under a sweater or suit. Furthermore, the body armor should meet the fourth level of ballistic protection of the "Association of test laboratories for bullet resistant materials and constructions" (VPAM 4) as well as the requirements of the VPAM ballistic protection vests (BSW). The idea can be realized by using an UHMWPE composite. A material with well-balanced properties to fulfill the ballistic and mechanical requirements, simultaneously providing the necessary wearing comfort.
Pages: 62 to 71
Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2019. Used with permission.
Publication date: June 30, 2019
Published in: journal
ISSN: 1942-261x