New study aims to find why body armor fails
A new study is currently underway to discover the best materials to use in the construction of body armor and to understand why body armor can at times fail; working in conjunction with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Baltimore based H.P. White Laboratory is researching which materials can best stand up to the rigors of real-world physical and environmental impacts and still maintain their efficacy throughout a body armor’s lifespan
The quest for the ideal armor continues // Source: policemag.com
A new study is currently underway to discover the best materials to use in the construction of body armor and to understand what factors can lead body armor to at times fail.
Working in conjunction with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Baltimore based H.P. White Laboratory is researching which materials can best stand up to the rigors of real-world physical and environmental impacts and still maintain their efficacy throughout a body armor’s lifespan. Mike Parker, president of H.P. White, says, “This is critically important work that will give law enforcement empirical data on body armor performance over the life of the protective equipment.”
The study will take eighteen months to complete and will occur in two phases.
The first phase is aimed at evaluating how body armor is currently used, maintained, and stored. The second phase will test soft body armor samples taken from officers in thirty agencies across the United States.
These tests will analyze the comparative ballistic properties of each these used pieces of armor against the performance of new armor samples. The results will then be used to help identify the variables that contribute to armor failure.
H.P. White has been in operation since 1936 and has had a long history of testing body armor as it was the first ballistic laboratory to be certified by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).
The study is funded by the National Institute of Justice.
