Investigations on Thermal Insulation and Vapor Resistance of Body Armor Using Thermal Manikin Method

Abstract

Abstract-With the frequent occurrences of the violence incidents, research on body armor is paid much attention to. To study the human physiological responses when wearing body armor and to improve the wearing comfort of body armor, a thermal manikin was used to measure the thermal insulation and vapor resistance of two types of body armor (stab-resistance and bulletproof, respectively) in a climate chamber. Results show the coverage levels on body part and material selections on protection layer affect the thermal insulation and vapor resistance of the body armors. Moreover, air temperature and relative humidity of the climate chamber have an influence on the moisture transfer of the body armors. The findings in this study could establish a data support for body armor, with thermophysical property improvement and design optimization.

Structural design of a 3-D printed stab resistant body armor

“…Stab-resistant body armor (SRBA) has become an essential item for protecting the general public from knife injury (Chen and Yang, 2010; Li et al , 2014). Conventionally manufactured SRBA (Wang et al , 2016a, 2016b; Li et al , 2016, 2015; Dempsey et al , 2014; Yuan et al , 2016), which has been traditionally fabricated from metals or high performance fibers, exhibits good stab resistance properties, but is uncomfortable to wear for extended periods. This latter drawback is derived from the weight, poor flexibility and poor heat and vapor permeability of metal (Ji et al , 2016).…”