Over the years, many improvements have been made in military and police garments to increase safety and create bullet proof body armor that is both comfortable and protective. However, in the past, being safe has meant a certain amount of bulk and discomfort, as well as added weight and mass for soldiers and officers facing combat on the battle fields and in urban wars. The use of Kevlar, a registered trademark of DuPont, has made body armor lighter and easier to work with, but flexibility has still been a problem.
A new material is changing the face of bullet proof gear for soldiers and police officers. The new substance is called SPECTRA and is a lot stronger, flexible and lighter than KEVLAR. The advantages seem to be obvious but what are they exactly and how do the security forces benefit from SPECTRA ?
If we examine the structure of the two we see that Kevlar is made from a high strength and high performance fiber who's properties are not yet entirely understood despite the fact that it has been used in bullet proof clothing for many years. A more or less exact description is difficult but you should try to see it is that the molecules form into sheets that then stack themselves around the center of a fiber like spokes. Stacking together several layers of Kevlar in a woven pattern creates the bullet proof material.
The woven material catches the bullets and the fibers break apart layer by layer and absorb the velocity. The bullets also get dulled and flattened when trying to penetrate the many different layers of the bullet proof material. This always has been a very effective method but nowadays the bullets are made of harder materials and they have a lot more velocity than in the past.
Due to these improvements in weaponry we are back to the point of the bulky, heavy and less flexible bullet proof material because the only solution to this advanced weaponry penetrating completely the vests is by adding more and more layers of Kevlar to the fabric.
Spectra is a completely new and different technology. Spectra is about 40% lighter than Kevlar which makes it a lot more comfortable. Spectra is not been woven which only helps reducing even more the weight and bulk as there is no need for several layers. - 16651
A new material is changing the face of bullet proof gear for soldiers and police officers. The new substance is called SPECTRA and is a lot stronger, flexible and lighter than KEVLAR. The advantages seem to be obvious but what are they exactly and how do the security forces benefit from SPECTRA ?
If we examine the structure of the two we see that Kevlar is made from a high strength and high performance fiber who's properties are not yet entirely understood despite the fact that it has been used in bullet proof clothing for many years. A more or less exact description is difficult but you should try to see it is that the molecules form into sheets that then stack themselves around the center of a fiber like spokes. Stacking together several layers of Kevlar in a woven pattern creates the bullet proof material.
The woven material catches the bullets and the fibers break apart layer by layer and absorb the velocity. The bullets also get dulled and flattened when trying to penetrate the many different layers of the bullet proof material. This always has been a very effective method but nowadays the bullets are made of harder materials and they have a lot more velocity than in the past.
Due to these improvements in weaponry we are back to the point of the bulky, heavy and less flexible bullet proof material because the only solution to this advanced weaponry penetrating completely the vests is by adding more and more layers of Kevlar to the fabric.
Spectra is a completely new and different technology. Spectra is about 40% lighter than Kevlar which makes it a lot more comfortable. Spectra is not been woven which only helps reducing even more the weight and bulk as there is no need for several layers. - 16651
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