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Old 06-14-2019, 01:28 PM   #34
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Modern Body Armor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
The fact it's rather bulky is a problem for personal armour. It's also very new, so how good it will end up after some proper optimisation isn't clear.
Well, if an inch of it passes NIJ Level IV testing, it's significantly less bulky than polyethylene plates, as those are about 30% thicker and only pass Level III. Ceramic composites which pass the newest NIJ Level IV as stand-alone plates tend to be over an inch thick, as well, though there are some expensive plates that are 0.9" or so.

There may be 0.70-0.75" plate that passes NIJ Level IV as a stand-alone plate and is also considered equally reliable in hard use and against multiple hits as 1" plates, but I haven't done enough research to tell if any of the thinner plates I've come across qualify. From checking several sources, it seems that plates designed to pass the newer NIJ 0101.06 test protocols tend to be thicker (0.9-1.1"), while body armor inserts that only pass the old standards can be had down to 0.7" thick or so.

Plastics and ceramic composites are miraculously light for the protection they give, but no one ever said you could make rifle-resistant body armor from thin sheets of such materials. TL8 body armor that helps against rifles is a lot bulkier than any historical armor worn in the field (but roughly the same final weight, as professional soldiers of today are probably fairly similar in strength and endurance as well-fed, active humans throughout history).
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Last edited by Icelander; 06-14-2019 at 06:05 PM.
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