Ballistic Vests

Roadmap Overview

The working principle and architecture of Ballistic Vests is depicted in the below.

A ballistic vest works by absorbing the energy from a high-speed projectile (bullet or fragment) at the point of impact over a wide area. The body armor is meant to spread the energy and displaces it across the body armor which is made of interwoven layered areas. The body armor, also mushrooms the bullet, meaning that it deforms at the point of impact, which further reduces the energy.

This technology is a lifesaving technology to aid military personnel and law enforcement during their daily activities. A ballistic vest is typically worn on an individual’s chest and is meant to be replaced after it has taken an impact or date of manufacturing has expired. There are six levels of protection (Type I, Type IIA, Type II, Type IIA, Type III, and Type IV). The history of personal armor dates back to 1400 BC when chainmail was used for individual Solider protection from swords and maces, but a ballistic vest intended for protection from high velocity rifles and machine guns is a more modern day. New fibers were discovered in the 1960’s for the possibility to make resistant vests and DuPont developed Kevlar ballistic fabric in the 1970s.