Each of the premium quality bulletproof vests that roll out of the house of a well-known manufacturer is made up of high-quality materials and woven with utmost care to protect the life of the individual who would be wearing it. With the introduction of firearms, armory workers at first tried to protect the individuals by reinforcing the cuirass, or torso cover, with thick steel plates and a second heavy plate over the breastplate, providing some protection from guns.
But as the firearm domain progressed, things changed a lot, and the cumbersome armor was abandoned.
Generally, a bulletproof vest consists of a panel, a vest-shaped sheet of advanced plastics polymers composed of many layers of substances using Kevlar, Spectra Shield, Twaron, or Cinema. Various processes are adopted for different materials as the layers of woven Kevlar are sewn together using Kevlar thread. The nonwoven Spectra Shield is coated and bonded with resins such as Kraton.
Here is how a properly made vest comes into existence.
#1. Making the panel cloth
To make Kevlar, the polymer poly-para-phenylene terephthalate is produced in the laboratory through a process known as polymerization. However, the Spectra used in high-quality tactical vests is usually not woven. The strong polyethylene polymer filaments are spun into fibers that are then sealed together to form a sheet of Spectra cloth. The two sheets of this cloth are then placed at right angles to one another and bonded that forms a nonwoven fabric. The vest shape can then be cut from the material as required.
#2. Cutting the panels
The next step is cutting the panels in which the Kevlar cloth is sent in large rolls to the bulletproof vest manufacturer, where the fabric is first unrolled onto a cutting table. To make Kevlar, the polymer solution is first produced, and the liquid is then extruded from a spinneret, and after various other processes, wound into cloth.
Apart from that, a Spectra Shield is not woven but rather spun into fibers. The fibers are then coated with resin and layered to form the cloth using as many layers of the material as needed.
#3. Cutting the sheet
The next thing is to cut the sheets similar to pattern pieces used for home sewing. As technology progressed, manufacturers are now using computer graphics systems to determine the optimal placement of the cut sheets to make the most out of it.
#4. Sewing the panels
The cut panels are then sewed using various methods. For example, a Kevlar can be either quilt-stitched or box-stitched, while a Spectra Shield generally does not require sewing. In a Spectra Shield, the panels are usually just cut and stacked in layers that make a bulletproof vest made from.
#5. Sewing the layers together
In the penultimate step, the workers place a stencil on top of the layers and mark out on the exposed areas of the panel. They are cut into the proper pattern pieces, which are then sewn together to form the finished vest.
#6. Giving the final touch to the vest
In the last step, the shells for the panels are sewn together using standard industrial sewing machines and standard sewing practices. After sewing is done, the panels are then slipped inside the shells, and the accessories such as the straps are added to the safe. The vest is now ready to be delivered.
Conclusion
The vest is one of the things that helps an individual continue his or her breathing in a hostile situation. Various types of vests are available in the market that you can buy according to your needs but always buy the one that is best in the segment because it is the thing that stops the bullet a few millimeters away from your body to save your life and should do its job accurately.
