An armor shield. The arm shield includes a ballistic material layer and a fabric layer. The fabric layer snuggly encases the ballistic material layer. The ballistic material layer and the fabric layer form a front side, a rear side, and an edge of the armor shield. A least one looped handle may be secured to the rear side.

Ballistic resistant composite materials having high positive buoyancy in water are provided. More particularly, provided are foam-free, buoyant composite materials fabricated using dry processing techniques. The materials comprise fibrous plies that are partially coated with a particulate binder that is thermopressed to transform a portion of the binder into raised, discontinuous patches bonded to fiber/tape surfaces, while another portion of the particulate binder remains on the fibers/tapes as unmelted particles. The presence of the unmelted binder particles maintains empty spaces within the composite materials which increases the positive buoyancy of the composites in water.

A flexible, fibrous energy managing composite panel includes multiple flocked energy absorbing material (FEAM) layers separated by dividers. The FEAM layers can be single side or double side and can be fabricated from monofilament fibers having different properties (e.g., length and denier) flocked onto various substrates. The dividers can include sheets, fabrics, films, foam, spacer fabrics to separate the flock fibers in adjacent layers. The composite panels can be processed for breathability and flexibility. Other embodiments include piezoelectric FEAM layers and dividers for electronic sensing applications, and application of composite panels to body armor and the outer shells of helmets.

Fabrication of ballistic resistant fibrous composites having improved ballistic resistance properties. More particularly, ballistic resistant fibrous composites having high interlaminar lap shear strength between component fiber plies or fiber layers, which correlates to low composite backface signature. The high lap shear strength, low backface signature composites are useful for the production of hard armor articles, including helmet armor.

A full-body protection gear is disclosed. The protection gear includes a torso protector, an arm protector, and a lower body protector. The torso protector includes a protective vest defining a neck opening, a first arm opening, and a second arm opening. The torso protector includes a front shield, aback shield, a first pair of side shields, a second pair of side shields, a first shoulder shield and a second shoulder shield fixedly disposed on the protective vest. The arm protector includes a first part adapted to cover an upper arm region of a user extending from a shoulder to an elbow, and a second part adapted to be removably coupled with the first part and to cover a lower arm region of the user extending from the elbow to a palm. The lower body protector includes a first part adapted to cover pelvic region and an upper leg region of a user, and a second part removably coupled with the first part in a partial overlapping manner, and adapted to cover lower leg region of the user. The lower leg region is indicative of a region extending from above a knee joint to above an ankle joint of the user.

A bio-monitoring system for armor plates. A piezoelectric sensor is used to measure flexing of an armor plate resulting from a wearer's respiration. The resulting measurements are used to determine at least one of a respiration rate and a heart rate of the wearer. Additional bio-monitoring sensors may be used. The system may be used in combination with an armor plate damage detection system.

The invention relates to a process for making high-performance polyethylene multi-filament yarn comprising the steps of a) making a solution of ultra-high molar mass polyethylene in a solvent; b) spinning of the solution through a spinplate containing at least 5 spinholes into an air-gap to form fluid filaments, while applying a draw ratio DRfluid; c) cooling the fluid filaments to form solvent-containing gel filaments; d) removing at least partly the solvent from the filaments; and e) drawing the filaments in at least one step before, during and/or after said solvent removing, while applying a draw ratio DRsolid of at least 4, wherein in step b) each spinhole comprises a contraction zone of specific dimension and a downstream zone of diameter Dn and length Ln with Ln/Dn of from 0 to at most 25, to result in a draw ratio DRfluid=DRsp*DRag of at least 150, wherein DRsp is the draw ratio in the spinholes and DRag is the draw ratio in the air-gap, with DRsp being greater than 1 and DRag at least 1. The invention further relates to a high-performance polyethylene multifilament yarn, and to semi-finished or end-use products containing said yarn, especially to ropes and ballistic-resistant composites.

The present invention relates to a structure for producing ballistic protection which combines high levels of performance in terms of stopping bullets and reducing trauma with great flexibility and breathability. A ballistic laminate comprising joined together unidirectional layers is produced. The ballistic laminate provided by the present invention is preferably produced by superposing at least two layers of ballistic yarns 101 and 103, arranged unidirectionally according to directions inclined relative to one another by approximately 90° (+/−10°). Each layer comprises a plurality of fibres arranged unidirectionally according to a substantially mutually parallel direction (+/−10°).

A rigid ballistic-resistant composite includes large denier per filament (dpf) yarns. The yarns are held in place by a resin to form a rigid composite panel with improved ballistic performance. The large dpf yarns may be selected from aromatic heterocyclic co-polyamide fibers, polyester-polyarylate fibers, high modulus polypropylene (HMPP) fibers, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers, poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibers, poly-diimidazo pyridinylene (dihydroxy) phenylene (PIPD) fibers, carbon fibers, and polyolefin fibers.

A robot system designed to provide non-invasive mitigation of ballistic safety risks. The robot system includes a robotic device and a safety retention suit, which covers or encloses the movable components or parts of the robotic device. The safety retention suit is formed of a fabric sheet of material chosen, in part, for its flexibility as well as durability to allow the part or the component of the robot enclosed within the suit to move freely. The safety retention suit includes one-to-many strands, threads, or cables of a material chosen to move with the flexible material of the suit when the enclosed component of the robotic device is moving during standard operations. When a mechanical failure occurs, the cables of the suit stretch but, as an overall unit, do not break so as to retain any portions of the covered or enclosed robotic part within the suit.