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Posted: 5/22/2007 5:49:41 PM EDT
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last I heard the most recent affordable bulletproof material was something called goldflex. this is a type of, twaron correct? anything more recent that is thinner (with the same strength)? what is this material polyetheleyne? i saw one manufacturer who produced vests made of it that were super light and thin. what is the lightest thinnest bullet proof material available to civilians these days? I know the army has that dragon skin stuff, but that is military only right (or at least cost prohibitive)? |
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It's not the same as Twaron (R). Twaron is a registered trademark for a type of araid fiber. Almost identical to Dupont's Kevlar (R). GoldFlex is made by Honeywell by combining an aramid with their patented material, Spectra (R). Here's a link. Polyethylene is a typs of plastic of course, but I haven't seen anything except hard plates made from it. Supposedly not as good at stopping any type of steel jacketed rounds. BUT I haven't really looked into it much at all. Almost have ignored it to be honest. |
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very informative unicorn. yeh I deduced that polyethelyne was some type of plastic, but I had always assumed that kevlar was also petroleum based. as a totally unrelated statement, I had a statistics teacher at JMU that worked at dupont on developing some of the first bullet proof vests. he had nothing to do with the chemical composition of the kevlar, but he worked on getting the machines to produce uniform strand sizes , and weave them together into usuable materials that were within spec every time. |
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As I understand it, poly plates are basically the same kind of plastic (or at least similar) that is in your trash can. I'm sure they are manufactuared differently, but the material is very similar. They are very light weight as compared to both steel or ceramic, but are thicker than either of the other two. They have the disadvantage of being heat sensitive - if you expose them to extreme heat (such as in the trunk of your car on a hot summer day) they permanantly loose their protective properties. One of the problems with them is they won't stop steel cored AP rounds, or the partial steel core of the M-855 round our military uses. I don't know if this also applies to the steel jacket that is found on a number of foreign military rounds, but I would think it is not as pronounced as in steel cored ammo. -K |
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In soft armor? Not really. The difference between Kevlar 129 (I think that's the latest), and the other blends is pretty small. I don't think there's been a major change in the past like 5 years. That last big thing turned out to be a bust, that being Zylon. A Japanese made material I think. Second Chance was the first to publicly recall all their vests made exclusively from it. It broke down rapidly in higher temperatures. The carrier can make a big difference in the cofort, and in some ways the protection. Find one that is comfortable, maybe made from a moisture wicking material, that fits your body. A poorly fitted vest can leave areas uncovered. Too much flex can create gaps, and obviously one that is too small or is shaped very different from you will leave uncovered gaps. |
| Spectra soft armor is thin and flexible, but apparently it folds easily and doesn't prevent contact shots from penetrating... check out Doc's testing at LIGHTFIGHTER ... scary. |
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With all the issues that have popped up, I'd just stick with either plain Kevlar, or Twaron. Neither have had any issues with weakening that wasn't due to user error. I'm talking machine washing, using bleach, leaving them in the sun, or storing them folded up or creased. Stuff like that. They are a tiny bit thicker and a very tiny bit heavier than some of the other materials, but again they've never had anything bad said about them besides some other material being a little thinner, lighter, and/or more flexible. And of course those saying that are either the manufacturer of the other material, or a vest maker trying to sell the more expensive vest. ETA: I just noticed you had asked about Dragon Skin. That's not in use, or approved for use by the Army. The current Army (and mostly general issue in the military) is the IBA or Interceptor Body Armor. It's about the equivalent of NIJ rated level 3A. And it's made from good old 4th generation Kevlar. The rifle plates, the SAPI (Small Arms Protective Inserts) are a ceramic based level 3 ish plate. Dragonskin armor is basically scale armor. Small disks of level 3 rated plates sewn together and overlapping. Like the scales of a fish or lizard. Or dragon. It's expensive as hell. Starts at around 4 grand I think. |
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