Thermal Effects of Design and Materials on QuadGard™ Body Armor Systems

Abstract

QuadGard™ arm and leg protection systems were developed to better protect key areas of arms and legs from blast fragments. The purpose of this investigation was to use sweating thermal manikin Walter™ and examine the intrinsic clothing insulation (R cl ), intrinsic clothing evaporative resistance (R ecl ), micro-climate temperature, and moisture retention of three QuadGard™ systems (QG II, QG IV Ventilated, and QG IV Not Ventilated) constructed with two ballistic materials, Dyneema 1 and Kevlar 1 . With similar protection level, the ballistic material Dyneema 1 , consistently measured lower in R cl and R ecl than the ballistic material Kevlar 1 , indicating body armor made with ballistic material Dyneema 1 is more comfortable. There was no significant difference between QG II and QG IV Ventilated in R cl and there was no significant difference between the three armor systems in R ecl . This indicated that design features have the potential to reduce thermal stress on the human body when protective clothing is necessary.

Satisfaction with current martial arts’ uniforms and purchase intention of new uniforms

“…For example, runners want their clothing to meet expected performance (Leksrisompong 2010); pear workers want clothing to increase mobility and work efficiency (Choi and Ashdown 2002); golfers want to have sufficient back length to achieve an uninhibited swing (Wheat and Dickson 1999); sailors require uniforms which allow quick actions while the body is in a confined space (Bye and Hakala 2005); and soldiers want body armor to not restrict ease of movement (Starr et al 2015).…”

“…Breathable and permeable uniforms would help practitioners keep a comfortable temperature; however, the non-breathable and non-permeable uniforms may become sticky in sweaty conditions and therefore impede practitioners' mobility. Empirical studies indicated that comfort influenced soldiers' mobility (Starr et al 2015) and it was the most important attribute that affects a runner (Çivitci and Dengin 2014) and male tennis players' performance (Jin and Black 2012).…”

Thermal Manikin Evaluation of Gender Sweat Differences While Wearing a Ballistic Vest

“…Chen, Fan, and Zhang (2003) used a sweating thermal manikin to determine that clothing insulation decreases by as much as 2-8% as perspiration increases. Quintela, Gaspar, and Borges (2004) analyzed heat exchange using a thermal manikin by varying the chamber temperature between 13 C and 29 C. More recently, a thermal manikin was used to test a prototype shirt with cooling capabilities (O'Hara & Serres, 2013), to examine equestrian body protectors (Dlugosch, Hu, & Chan, 2013), and to test arm and leg blast-fragment protection systems (Starr et al, 2015). This study's purpose was to determine whether gender-related thermoregulatory (sweat pattern) and anthropometric differences impact relative humidity (RH) levels in the microclimate while wearing a unisex ballistic vest, using a thermal manikin for repeatability.…”

Thermal analysis of conventional and performance plain woven fabrics by finite element method

“…In the case of natural fibres, high-performance fibres such as Nomex® and Twaron® are widely used in fire protection and body armour clothing respectively [3–9]. The heat transfer behaviour of these materials is necessary to be analysed when they are subjected to the intense environment.…”