What is a modern body armor?

 

Alexander Andreev: Modern bulletproof vests are classified according to the degree of protection depending on the type of threat - in short. More details will be more confusing. Each country has adopted its own classification of body armor. GOST R 50744-95 is valid in our country, regulating the classification of armored clothing. It provides six main classes - from 1 to 6A. Germany has four classes, American police officers have four classes, and so on. The classes of different countries overlap. 

It is possible to compare the classes of different countries with a certain degree of approximation. For example, American 4th grade roughly corresponds to our 6A. Accordingly, depending on the danger of exposure - the energy of the bullet, the design of the ammunition - the design of the body armor is also created. For example, a light bulletproof vest made of a flexible package of ballistic fabric can protect from a part of pistol bullets and a knife. From some rifle bullets and a large fragment of a mine or shell today, armor steel is not enough. We have to talk about more advanced materials - ceramic composites. best buy place visit now

What materials are used in body armor?

As a rule, the base material for army, civil and police body armor is ballistic fabrics based on aramid fibers. Abroad, these are American Kevlar and European Twaron. In Russia, this is a whole series of aramid fibers, which chemically differ greatly from American and European ones. By the way, they were presented at the Milipol-2011 exhibition by the Russian manufacturer Kamenskvolokno. Many publications are devoted to the differences in the properties of Russian and foreign aramid fibers, pros and cons are discussed. I can only agree with the opinion of most experts that the potential of our fibers has not been fully realized today. I will add an interesting fact, obtained not only in "TECHINCOM" (abbreviation of TECHNOLOGIES, Engineering of Composite - Andreev's note). In terms of the "protective characteristics / weight" ratio, structures made of domestic aramid fibers are superior to foreign aramid fibers. 

A number of structures, especially composite ones, are not inferior in this indicator to structures made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), while the physical density of the latter is one and a half times less. UHMWPE is a very interesting material. Fibers have high strength, catching up with aramid, and ballistic products made from it - body armor, armor panels and helmets - are able to float in water and do not lose their ballistic properties, which, unfortunately, is inherent in all aramids.

But there is one problem. This material is not applicable for army body armor. The fact is that no matter how high molecular weight it is, it is still polyethylene. Its maximum operating temperature cannot exceed 90 degrees Celsius. In military conditions, when there is a possibility of direct contact with fire or incandescent objects, when the operating conditions are harsh (the vest is used both as a bedding and as an additional means of protection in transport), polyethylene, especially in the form of soft non-woven unidirectional structures, does not provide operational survivability. 

But as a means for police body armor, UHMWPE is suitable. Police officers still do not work in difficult field conditions, they are not in trenches and do not dry themselves by the fire. I do not mean the military units of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Pistol and splinter protection is the maximum that can be achieved with a soft fabric structure. To protect vital organs from bullets of long-barreled weapons in body armor, it is necessary to use armor panels. There are several reasons for this. First, the bullet of a long-barreled weapon is a sharp striking element. When exposed to high concentration of energy in a small area, high energy impulse. Soft tissue in bags of reasonable thickness will no longer hold them. In modern history, after a long break since the time of medieval armor, armor plates were made of steel.

In the First and Second World Wars, such plates were widely used. Later, light alloys were used. For example, during the war in Afghanistan, there were already body armor, in which some elements were made of armored aluminum, some of titanium. Since the eighties, ceramic materials have been used that are superior to metals in terms of weight and protection. But the use of ceramics is only possible in combination with composites of ballistic fibers. At the same time, it is necessary to solve many material science problems associated with the low survivability of such armor panels and the not always high realization of the entire complex of ceramic properties. 

The ceramic armor panel must be handled with care. associated with the low survivability of such armor panels and not always high implementation of the entire complex of ceramic properties. The ceramic armor panel must be handled with care. associated with the low survivability of such armor panels and not always high implementation of the entire complex of ceramic properties. The ceramic armor panel must be handled with care.

In our conditions, I believe that we have done our best to make such a panel resistant to any operational damage: dropped it, hit it on armored vehicles, threw off the bulletproof vest on the concrete floor - it's not scary. To the credit of the Ministry of Defense, the task of high survivability of ceramic armored panels was designated as a priority back in the 1990s, since until then ceramic armored panels lost much of this indicator to steel ones. Thanks to this approach, the army has a reliable development - armored panels of the Granit-4 family. 

Armored panels have been tested for more than ten years of operation in hot spots as part of 6B13 body armor and have confirmed the importance of high survivability. The next generation of armored panels "Granit-6", having higher bullet resistance, surpasses the previous one in terms of survivability. providing protection against six hits with a probability of close to one hundred percent, and ten hits with a probability of 80 percent. They are supplied to the troops in the new 6B43 assault body armor from the current year. These are the main materials that are produced today and exist in the series.