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Cloth armor? Hmmm... really *cloth*?

Cymew

SOC-12
I have been thinking about what "cloth" armor is, and I can't really grasp it!

Can someone do better than Marc Miller and tell me what "cloth" means? My t-shirt is made of cloth, cotton cloth. It sure wont stop bullets...

Or am I mislead by the name? English isn't my first language really.
 
Ballistic Cloth


From the THB (pg. 208)

A heavy-duty body suit tailored from ballistic cloth. The fabric absorbs impact energy, distributing the blow over the body of the target and possibly resulting in bruising. Cloth armor is the best and most versatile of modern armor available.
Hunter
 
I think Kevlar would be a good RL brand name example Cymew, in a whole bodysuit form rather than the typical vest or half vest. The higher(?) TL makes it both lighter and more comfortable.
 
I saw an ep of Mail Call where they showed the making of Kevlar vests. The material is very cloth-like. They use [NSA Censored]layers when making military body armor. I'm sure less layers would be needed in future/Sci-Fi settings making the final product very normal clothesy looking.
 
Well, the number of layers depends on what the armor is supposed to resist; if high tech armor needs to resist high tech weapons it may not be any thinner.
 
Yeah, but Cloth armor vs. TL8 weapons is about as good as NIJ Level IIIA. That would be 28 layers of Kevlar 9, 4 layers of Dyneema, maybe 3 of spider silk.

So cloth armor needn't be much heavier than a denim jacket.
 
Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
Yeah, but Cloth armor vs. TL8 weapons is about as good as NIJ Level IIIA. That would be 28 layers of Kevlar 9, 4 layers of Dyneema, maybe 3 of spider silk.

So cloth armor needn't be much heavier than a denim jacket.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
or a lt-med grade thickness leather jacket [a shameless fondness for trenchcoats TL-14 BW I have..]<innocent look>
 
In the American Civil War vests made of many layers of silk were marketed. They might not stop minie balls from a rifle, but they could stop the soft lead bullets from a blackpowder pistol.

Author and police shooting expert Massad Ayoob has speculated that Wyatt Earp wore a vest like this while he was a city marshal in Dodge City.
 
A SE Asian government has been developing a cheap (compared w/kevlar) silk base antiballistic vest.

Crusaders would wear felt coats under their mail to halt arab arrows...this would later be useful for the conquistadores in the Americas.

The heavy woolen coats of Russian cavalry were good enough to turn aside all but the most determined bladed attacks.
 
....Armored UNDERWEAR!!!!!....thats the answer!!!

ARMORED JOCKY SHORTS!!!!
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Originally posted by MADDog:
I thought the big bullet resistant cloth today was Spectra...

-MADDog
Yeah, but who can keep up, unless you're in the industry or using it in your line of duty. Besides everybody here has likely heard of Kevlar vests so its the best analogy.
 
See, always something new and improved
Though it looks like the hard inserts have changed little in over a decade. What happened to all the light ceramic and composite materials being researched? Or has bc improvement just kept outpacing the need for it? I've been out of touch with all this material for a while, looks like I have some surfing to catch up on. You seem up to speed or interested Uncle Bob, professionally or hobbiest? (if you don't mind my asking of course, just curious)
 
Just curious, myself.

AFAIK, the ceramic plates are alumina or boron carbide, the same as in the 1960s.

There may be some improvement in backing material, bonding or microstructure.
 
Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
Dyneema is newer than Spectra. And Zylon is newer than that.
Dyneema is just another brand name for the same fiber as spectra...
However, after futher review, Zylon looks pretty cool - Almost 25% increase in strength/weight performance over Spectra, which had a similar increase over Kevlar...

-MADDog
 
Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
Yeah, but Cloth armor vs. TL8 weapons is about as good as NIJ Level IIIA. That would be 28 layers of Kevlar 9, 4 layers of Dyneema, maybe 3 of spider silk.

So cloth armor needn't be much heavier than a denim jacket.
It's more than the number of layers. You can twist the fibers tighter, or dope them. And naturally, there are other materials than kevlar.

The latest monarch vest from second chance (9th generation) is about as thick as a sweatshirt. You can ball the whole thing up in your hand. It's available in IIA, II and IIA.

http://www.secondchance.com/prod.asp?action=ballistic&prodID=5

The big problem with the thin vests is backface trauma. So what if the bullet is stopped if the vest goes 6 inches into your chest.
 
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