 Diverse protection
DSM Dyneema provides personal and platform protection against the full spectrum of ballistic threats
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| Dyneema®, the world's strongest fibre. © Dyneema |
DSM Dyneema is the inventor and manufacturer of
Dyneema, the world’s strongest fibre. Dyneema is an
ultra-reliable polyethylene fibre that offers maximum
strength combined with minimum weight, and is
finding an ever-increasing array of uses in the highperformance
demanding life protection sector.
Dyneema is available to the market as unidirectional
sheet (UD) for use against ballistic threats.
In this sector, key applications for Dyneema are highly
diverse and range from personal protection bullet-resistant
vests, inserts to helmets and anti-ballistic protection for
both military and police vehicles. All personal and vehicle
protection applications using Dyneema UD benefit from its
unique combination of light weight and high protective
ability. Dyneema UD for personal protection comes in two
variants: soft ballistic (Dyneema SB21 & SB31) for vests
and hard ballistics (Dyneema HB2 & 50 for inserts and
Dyneema HB26 for helmets).
Subsequently, Dyneema UD used in personal
protective equipment and clothing provides for increased
comfort due to its lower weight, and is therefore
comfortable to wear in extreme circumstances and over
long periods of time. Specifically for bullet-resistant vests,
materials made with Dyneema fibre allow full freedom of
movement because of their light weight.
Additionally armour plates made with Dyneema UD
can be molded to fit the shape and size of the body which
can then be inserted into garments. This allows for
products to be made that enhance both confidence and
wearing comfort for those in the line of fire.
Panel armouring with Dyneema UD for vehicles
offers improved design flexibility, as panels can be
custom-shaped. Dyneema UD is a light weight, cost
effective alternative to metal armoring to protect
occupants from direct fire, landmine and improvised
explosive device (IED) threats. The lower weight of
solutions based on Dyneema UD improve the vehicle’s
performance and payload, and facilitates easier
installation of the armor.
DSM Dyneema has its own well-equipped testing
facilities and is continuously looking at material
improvements and application developments in collaboration
with different institutes, customers and end users.
VEHICLE PROTECTION
Vehicle protection applications using Dyneema UD benefit
from its unique combination of light weight and exceptional
protective ability. Applications include spall liners and
armour panels for military vehicles, police vehicles, VIP
vehicles, transporters, aircraft, ships, and helicopters.
The Dyneema HB series is used for hard, rigid
ballistic protection like bullet resistance panels for vehicles
from offering lightweight protection against fragments,
Dyneema HB products protect against most threats listed
in NATO STANAG, EN, NIJ up to rifle bullets like the
7.62x51 NATO ball and the Kalashnikov AK47. On a
weight-for-weight basis, it is up to 15 times stronger than
steel and up to 40 percent stronger than aramid fibres.
Dyneema floats on water and is extremely durable and
resistant to moisture, UV light and chemicals. Its
applications, therefore, are more or less unlimited.
Patria XA188 of the Netherlands Army, in operations in Afghanistan, Helmand province.
Equipped with Dyneema®
on the inside of the vehicle to reduce the effects of spall
generated by roadside bombs, grenades and RPGs. © Richard Frigge AVDD
Currently, Dyneema HB26 is being used by US, UK
and other NATO forces to up-armour vehicles in theatre
that are most exposed to roadside bombs and explosively
formed penetrators (EFPs). Dyneema has proven to be one
of the very few capable ingredients to offer capable
protection at very light additional weight.
Dyneema UD sheet is a construction of several layers,
with the direction of fibres in each layer placed at 90° to the
direction of the fibres in the adjacent layers. This
unidirectional configuration allows the energy transferred
from the impact of a bullet or other threat to be distributed
along the fibres much faster and more efficiently than in
conventional woven fabrics. Depending upon the application
and threat, armour panels and spall liners made with
Dyneema UD composite can protect against:
- The full range of ammunition defined in European
Standard EN1522-1
- Military ball ammunition, including AK47 mild steelcore
bullets
- Antitank projectiles up to 14.5 mm (combined with a
ceramic or steel strike face)
- Tank-penetrating projectiles such as APDS kinetic
energy projectiles and shaped-charge, high-energy
ammunition
- Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), EFPs
Panels made with Dyneema UD composite are significantly
lighter than conventional panels, helping to minimize the
effect of armor weight on a vehicle’s center of gravity,
speed and maneuverability. Armour made with Dyneema
with steel or ceramic strike faces can reduce density by
50%-75% compared to all steel armour.
Vehicle armour made with Dyneema UD resists
degradation from moisture, chemicals and UV light. The
material meets the most common standards for flame
retardancy (e.g. FAR 25.853, DIN 4102 class B2,
FMVSS 302). The composite also offers superior high
and low temperature resistance and excellent aging
resistance. These performance properties make
Dyneema UD an excellent choice for harsh climates and
temperature extremes. Further, the material exhibits
positive buoyancy, making it appropriate for marine
operations.
Panels and liners made with Dyneema UD can be cut
using standard equipment, and can be given any shape,
conforming to the irregular contours of both large and
small vehicles.
PERSONAL PROTECTION
As threats increase and greater demands are placed on law enforcement, security and military forces, there is an
urgent need for body armor that can provide enhanced
protection, including multi-hit and edge protection,
combined with lighter weight.
TenCate Advanced Armour, manufacturer of insert
plates, have combined their expertise to develop best-inclass
fiber-only (monolithic) inserts to be used in hard
ballistic body armour. These inserts, which feature
proprietary technology from TenCate and Dyneema HB50
UD technology from DSM Dyneema, result in lower weight
total body armour, which allows the possibility of adding
additional protection to other body areas.
TenCate Aresshield inserts are made with Dyneema
HB50, the new standard in ballistic protection for
standalone fiber-based inserts. Tests with Dyneema HB50
have shown a significant increase in performance - up to
20% compared to Dyneema HB2 - and results support the
long track record of the Dyneema fibre in ballistic
applications. Therefore inserts made with Dyneema HB50
are able to absorb the impact rifles threats such as AK47
and Nato Ball.
Local manufacturers Zhong Tian Feng Protection
Products Technology Company Ltd. (ZTF) are using soft
and hard ballistics made with Dyneema in the manufacturer
of 3,000 bullet-resistant vests and helmets for the Beijing
Bureau of Public Security ready for the upcoming 2008
Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. This follows Dyneema
SB21 UD’s selection by Techcom Security Technology
Limited of Hong Kong in an order for body armour for the
Hong Kong Police Force capable of defeating steel core
ammunition. The requirement called for a solution capable
of stopping Chinese Type 51B steel core ammunition shot
from a Type 54 pistol at a speed of 411 +/- 12 m/sec.
The bullet-resistant vests are the first soft ballistics to meet
the required level of protection of the Hong Kong police
force; conventional vests utilize hard-pressed panels or
metal while the Dyneema SB21 UD composite can replace
metal and other rigid materials in bullet-resistant vests.
Protective applications made with Dyneema offers a unique
combination of stopping power, light weight and flexibility
to this body armour, which incorporates ballistic packs
manufactured by Chongqing Jinguan New Technology Co.
RIVERINE AND LITTORAL
Personnel using Dyneema on their personal protection
solution also benefit from its protection in the platform they
are carried. Dyneema HB25 is now in service with the
South Korea Navy’s LSF-II hovercraft and PKX fast patrol
boats as protection from ballistic impact and fire using an
aluminium and glass-epoxy resin layer to panels made with
Dyneema HB25. This has significantly reduced overall
weight while remaining flame retardant properties.
Samyang Comtech Co., Ltd., (Samyang), developed the
boat armour panels for the ROK Navy and is now available
for marine and also for vehicle applications worldwide.
AGEING
In two cases in 2003 a bullet resistant vest constructed using
Polybenzobisoxazole (PBO) a based fibres was penetrated in
the USA resulting in serious injury to the police officer
wearing the vest. Even though the vest in question was fairly
new, this incident raised concerns about how aging might
induce a change in the performance over time of the
polymeric materials used in body armour constructions.
Due to the lack of any accepted standard or test
technique to measure the life time expectancy of bullet
resistant body armour, DSM Dyneema defined an
accelerated aging technique in which both Dyneema yarn
and Dyneema UD were exposed to high temperature and
relative humidity for a total of eight weeks. A scientific
technique -Arrhenius equation - was used to relate the
accelerated aging data to ambient aging.
The study confirmed that Dyneema shows excellent
performance retention upon aging.
After eight weeks of accelerated aging at 65°C
(149°F) and 80% r.h., all Dyneema UD soft ballistic grades
(Dyneema SB21, Dyneema SB31) show no significant
change in V50 performance.
All Dyneema SB grades show a V50 performance
retention of more than 95 percent. V50 values were
measured for six ballistic packs for each measurement
date and an average value was recorded. A 9 mm steel
jacketed bullet was used for V50 measurements.
The research has been published in the international
peer reviewed Journal of Materials Science in April 2007. The
fact that DSM Dyneema has published and shared the results
demonstrates the commitment and ethical responsibility of
DSM Dyneema to help the global life protection industry in its
effort to improve the life time expectancy assessment of
body armour based on polymeric materials. ■ |
