U.S. Ballistic Engineering has over 40 years of experience in ballistic research, testing, design, development and sales of advanced ballistic protection systems. They are recognized worldwide as experts in Ballistic Armor.
October 2, 2003
Dear Police1,
It was nice talking with your organization this week. I share your concerns regarding the recent controversy in the marketplace in regards to the “long term” performance reliability of the PBO fiber known as Zylon. I say “long-term” performance reliability deliberately as there is no debate over the performance capability of Zylon materials when properly engineered and manufactured in a quality-controlled environment.
I have been involved in many research projects over the past six years that featured Zylon fabrics and materials. In every instance I have found Zylon to have tremendous ballistic performance capabilities. As with any high performance fiber there are certain environmental exposures that can potentially damage or reduce the performance capabilities of the fiber. There is however a wealth of scientific data that demonstrates clearly, Zylon materials when handled properly in a quality controlled environment meet or exceed the performance requirements of NIJ Std. 0101.04 at weights previously thought to be unattainable.
Before addressing the controversy I think it is important to review what we have learned over the past twenty years. There have been other controversies that ultimately challenged us to invest in research that resulted in improved technologies.
Aramid fiber such as Kevlar and Twaron are vulnerable to moisture. This environmental concern was addressed and resolved soon after these technologies were introduced to the market. Teijin Twaron and Dupont worked with weavers and manufactures to produce treatments and systems that minimized the environmental exposure. Today; Aramid based vests are reliable technologies that have saved many Officers lives over the past 25 years.
Polyethylene fibers such as Dyneema and Spectra are vulnerable to environmental exposures of high heat. During the eighties there was conflict over whether a PE based vest could protect an officer adequately. There were some misguided individuals who perpetuated the myth that an officer wearing a PE vest was vulnerable to a flash fire or that the impacting projectile could potentially “melt” it’s way through a PE vest. Honeywell and Dutch State Mines in cooperation with NIJ, Law Enforcement and Manufacturing worked together to develop scientific data to resolve the issue and dispel the myths.
Today, Spectra and Dyneema are part of a new generation of lightweight high performance vests that are more comfortable. With the knowledge gained from this research NIJ was able to write the current NIJ Std 0101.04 and update it’s Use and Care manual. These are all positive developments for Law Enforcement.
Today we face a controversy with Zylon. Specifically the issue is, what level of exposure to a combination of heat and moisture causes a degradation of performance in ballistic vests using Zylon. Toyobo the manufacturer of Zylon fiber continues to test and release data indicating that long-term exposure of Zylon fiber to heat and moisture has a detrimental effect on the fiber performance.
This data is valuable for Toyobo. Unfortunately, it does not answer for us the question of what happens “over time” to a Zylon based vest that has been certified to the NIJ Standard and is being worn by an officer in the line of duty. The data does allow Toyobo to institute better handling procedures for Zylon for production and shipment of the fiber.
Body Armor worn by Police Officers today is not just layers of fabric that stops a bullet. Body Armor today is a sophisticated system of components designed to provide the Officer with lightweight, flexible protection against a variety of threats. The system is designed for long-term wear and to save the officers life. This system includes the way it is assembled, how it is manufactured, how it is stitched, what materials are used to encase the ballistic panel and how it is suspended on the body.
What we need is an evaluation of “vests in the field”. We need scientific data to determine if there is a performance loss before the normal five-year cycle is over. The data developed needs to draw a distinction between hybrid Zylon vests and 100% woven zylon fabric vests. If there is a performance loss we need to know what the loss is and what are the contributing factures. The contributing factors can be use and care, the system design including the way the ballistic panels are stitched and oriented, the materials used to protect the ballistic panels from environmental elements, the environment in which the body armor is manufactured or the storage environment of the materials used in production? We cannot simply attribute this loss in performance to Zylon alone.
The NIJ is currently evaluating testing options and in fact has recently released some statements regarding this issue. They are available on the NLETC website. If departments have concerns regarding their vests they should contact NLETC or an independent organization that will perform an evaluation of their vests to determine if there is a loss of performance.
Police Officers lives have been saved because they wear their vests. They wear their vests because they have the confidence it works. We must be sure to continue to give the Law Enforcement Community the facts concerning the issues based on scientific data. If the data does not exist we need to generate it now so they will continue to have confidence and wear their vests.
We should not panic. Some have discontinued the production of Zylon based vests; some have discontinued weaving Zylon fabrics. We should not rush to a judgment “All Zylon vests are defective”. This simply is not true. All we need to do is look at the high number of successful NIJ certifications using zylon.
Sincerely,
Allen L. Price
President and CEO
United States Ballistic Engineering
U.S. Ballistic Engineering has over 40 years of experience in ballistic research, design, development and sales of advanced ballistic protection systems: specializing in the law enforcement, military and international markets. The USBE Technology Center for Comprehensive U.S. Ballistic Engineering specializes in research, testing and training and provides ballistic consultation to foreign military and governments. They currently work with all major ballistic fiber producers; Honeywell, Toyobo, DSM, Dupont and Teijin Twaron.