Development overview of individual bulletproof materials

           Since the beginning of recorded history, people have used a variety of materials to protect themselves. Protect yourself from war and various dangerous environments.Initially, protective clothing and shields were made from animal fur. With the development of human civilization, wooden shields appeared, and later metal shields appeared.Finally, "costumes" were made from metal (including chain mail made of metal rings and fish scale armor made of metal plates), which is often referred to as the human body armor used by medieval warriors. However, with the advent of firearms (around AD 1500), the weight of human armor also reached its peak as the 17th century approached.As the firepower of firearms increased, these heavy and expensive armors gradually withdrew from the stage of history due to their difficulty in resisting the power of artillery and light weapons.

The video shows the TACEAG cooperative bulletproof factory. Workers are polishing bulletproof materials by hand.

         In World War I, due to the increased firepower of field artillery, mortars, machine guns and other weapons, the value of body armor and helmets was re-recognized.Before the Second World War, the United Kingdom first developed an inner body armor made of manganese steel with a thickness of 1mm and a weight of about 1kg to protect the chest, abdomen and back.Later, the US military transformed it and equipped it with the Air Force, and began the research and equipment work on its body armor. The nylon fabric laminated body armor (Flak Jacket) and glass fiber reinforced polycool resin body armor (Doron) used in the Korean battlefield have emerged.  The above-mentioned body armor is powerless against armor-piercing bullets.
       It was not until the early 1960s that hard composite materials that could withstand high-energy rifle and machine gun bullets appeared. The surface material was alumina ceramics, and the back support material was fiberglass-reinforced resin or nylon laminated fabric. This type of body armor was heavily equipped by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, and the protective area increased.With the increasing requirements for bulletproof performance, combat effectiveness and comfort of body armor, and the emergence of high-performance para-aromatic polyamide fiber (Kevlar) in the late 1970s.n the early 1980s, various soft and hard body armors with high-performance fibers as the main materials began to appear and be equipped.

      The development of helmets and body armor basically followed the same path, starting from natural materials (rattan, leather, etc.).It developed into metal materials, and then withdrew from the stage of history due to its inability to resist the threat of firearms in the era of thermal weapons.

     To the reappearance of metal helmets from the First World War. The French army first used metal helmets in World War I, and then the whole of Europe adopted them as individual equipment.The U.S. military, after Britain and France, also developed metal helmets in 1917. After many improvements, the M-1 helmet with cotton reinforced resin and nylon reinforced resin lining appeared in the helmet. The ballistic resistance was improved. At that time, many NATO countries All use this M-1 helmet.

    With the emergence of high-performance fibers, the US military formulated the ground force individual bulletproof system (PASGT) plan in the 1970s, and the Kevlar fiber-reinforced phenolic/PVB composite helmet appeared. It is better than metal helmets in terms of weight, protection area and bulletproof ability. Big advantage.The concept of "Personal Armor System" emerged in the early 1990s. Currently, all developed countries in the world, led by the United States, are developing their own integrated human armor systems.The helmets among them all use non-metallic composite helmets with high-performance fibers as the main material, while military body armor generally uses soft and hard composite body armor with adjustable functions.