For anybody that wears soft body armor it has come across their mind at some point in time how exactly does the body armor work and how reliable is it. Technology has changed since the first body armor was produced before WWII. Nowadays, body armor is a proven tool to saving the lives of police officers, military, and anybody else that wears body armor.

There are a few types of body armor available. Those types include soft body armor, hard body armor, and armor that protects against stabs. Soft body armor is the type typically worn by police officers. It usually is concealable and is some what flexible to allow easy mobility by the officer. Hard body armor is typically made out of ceramic or metal plates. It is very similar to the medieval times body suits. Hard body armor usually provides a higher greater level of protection yet allows for limited mobility. Therefore, it is usually only used in limited situations. Body armor that provides stab protection is typically used by correctional officers. This type of body armor usually doesn't provide a ballistic protection, yet a protection against stabs. This article will discuss how soft body armor works.

Before we discuss how body armor works, a brief history of body armor will be provided to understand how and when it was first discovered.

Body armor has been around since early days of the world. It started with the ancient tribes using animal hide and plants wrapped around them to give them protection when they went hunting. In the 1400's, the early fighters used metal plates to protect themselves. These plates were transformed into full body suits. Although these suits were very productive, they were extremely heavy and too cumbersome for the wearer. Not much changed in the body armor industry until WWII.

Flak jackets were introduced at WWII but did not provide the soldier that much protection. Flak jackets were originally designed to protect soldiers from flying debris and shrapnel. The jacket was made of nylon and had a manganese plate had sewn in them. After the production of the jackets, it was realized that the jackets were still too bulky and didn't provide that much protection.

Since the inception of flak jackets, great steps have been made in improving body armor. In the mid 1960's, Kevlar was manufactured and developed by DuPont. It wasn't until the early 1970's that Kevlar was used in the manufacture of soft body armor. Kevlar is a light, strong synthetic material that is five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis. When woven together it makes a very resistant material. The use of Kevlar and other synthetic materials are the key ingredients in soft body armor these days.

Now that we understand the key ingredients of body armor we can discuss exactly how does soft body armor works.

When a bullet or projectile strikes the body armor, it is caught in a web of high performance fibers that are layered and stitched to exceed certain bullet resistant specifications. The engaged fibers absorb and disperse the impact energy that is transmitted to the vest from the bullet, causing the bullet to deform or "mushroom". Additional energy is absorbed by each successive layer of material in the vest, until such time as the bullet has been stopped. Because the fibers work together in both the individual layer and with other layers of material in the vest, a large area of the garment becomes involved in preventing the bullet from penetrating.

Even though the bullet may not penetrate through the body armor, there is still a possibility that the person wearing the body armor may receive injuries to their internal organs. These injuries are a result of blunt trauma force. The body armor provides some protection against these, but it is impossible to prevent it completely especially since it is soft body armor.

The reason there are blunt trauma injuries to a person that has been struck by bullet while wearing body armor is because when the bullet or projectile strikes the vest, there is some initial backward movement by the vest. That means, the bullet does not come to a complete stop upon initial impact yet it comes to stop after a short distance of still going inward towards the body of the person wearing the body armor. When the bullet strikes the body armor, the body armor moves backwards into the body of the wearer creating a force. The body absorbs some of the force and then acts a barrier to stop the backward movement of the vest. The absorption of the force can cause injuries to the wearer. Those injuries could include anything from bruising to major internal damage that could lead to death. While the number one priority of body armor is to prevent the bullet from penetrating, it is still very important for the body armor to prevent blunt trauma.

Soft body armor has proven to be a key element in saving police officer's lives. To date over 3,000 officers have been saved by body armor.

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