Working in partnership with Australian Wool Innovation, an Australian research agency is developing a ballistic protection vest that provides superior comfort without compromising its ballistic capabilities.

Worn by protective and law enforcement agencies, citizens and the military, cloth ballistic vests (CBV) play an important role in limiting critical wounds from fragments and small-arms fire.

Prevention of both penetration and blunt trauma injury is determined by the combination of materials used and the number of layers of such material. Today, ballistic vests are made almost exclusively using Para-aramid fibres or Ultra High Modulus Polyethylene fibres to provide the ballistic protection.

The protection of a ballistic vest provides is always balanced against a comfort factor. It should be comfortable enough to allow its wearer to perform their normal law enforcement duties and give them the manoeuvrability to quickly respond to any situation while withstanding heat stress.

The biggest factors for the comfort of a ballistic vest are its weight and breathability. These factors can affect everything from how easily and quickly the wearer is able to move to how much heat stress must be endured.

AWI is investigating the use of merino with other ballistic protection fibres to produce a ballistic vest that is as light as possible but still delivers the desired protection and comfort without restricting movement.

All figures and tables courtesy of CSIRO unless otherwise noted.