Domestic technical textiles Industry Segment-wise consumption of ...

Bullet-proof jacket
Ballistic protection involves protection of the wearer’s body and eyes against projectiles and
fragments of various shapes, size and impact velocity. The projectiles are a part of ammunition shot
through weapons such as pistols, revolvers and rifles. Ballistic protection equipments have been used
for ages, the earliest form of protection was metallic suit. The ballistic protection equipments evolved
from metallic to natural fibre fabric (layers of silk). With the advent of synthetic fibres, all the ballistic
protection equipment was made using synthetic fibres like aromatic polyamide (Aramid), Ultra High
Modulus Polyethylene (UHMPE) and p - phenylene-2, 6-benzobisoxazole (PBO).
The bullet-proof jackets protect the bearer by dissipating the kinetic energy of the projectile into the
equipment layers by deformation of the fabric layer cutting across yarns. For example, when a
projectile hits a woven fabric a shock wave or strain wave is introduced in the fabric, which spreads
through its yarns. The primarily impacted yarns interact with other yarns by means of couplings at the
cross over points of the fabrics. The strain wave can thus be pushed over a large number of yarns. The
positive effect of this mechanism is that the energy will be absorbed over a large area. The velocity of
the strain wave dissipation of energy would depend upon the modulus of the constituent of the fabric
Product characteristics
The bullet-proof jackets are made from Aramid, Nylon 66, UHMPE, Carbon fibres or PBO. Each
jacket weighs about 5 kilograms and is expected to have the following properties:
1. Light weight
2. Comfortable to wear
3. Facilitate body movement
4. Ability to spread the projectile energy efficiently
Each jacket has about 0.6 square metres of non-woven material weighing around 750 GSM. Bulk of
the jacket is made from woven material as the combination of weave and the fibre characteristics
influence the energy absorption characteristics of bullet-proof jacket. The synthetic fibre (Aramid)
used in production of bullet-proof jackets is primarily imported (DSM Netherlands/DuPont etc) with
the exception of carbon glass fibre.
Market dynamics and key growth drivers