In-service Technique for Assessing Conditions of Ballistic Protective Inserts in Personnel Armor

"Primary ballistic protection offered against small arms rounds is mostly based on ceramic with fiber reinforced backing. Due to its complex structure and, in general, anisotropic material properties, ballistic personnel armor is very difficult to inspectusing conventional Non Destructive Evaluation/Inspection (NDE/I) methods and instruments, such as ultrasonics. Moreover, methods such as x-rays or CT scan are too complicated to use in the fielded units for economic and logistical reasons. Thus, there isgreat need for the development of new NDE technologies that can address these complicated assessment issues.Physical Acoustics Corporation (PAC) has developed a unique Guided Wave Acousto-Ultrasonic (AU) technology, which is designed for the inspection of thick multi-layered, multi-functional composites. This Guided Wave Acousto-Ultrasonic method will providethe basis for designing a completely portable system capable of assessing the ballistic integrity of personnel armor both in the field or directly after manufacturing. It is anticipated that the results of this program will lead to the development of aportable personnel armor Ballistic Protective Insert(s) (BPI) inspection system that can be used to assess the condition of ballistic protective composite. The developed system will have applications for many industries beyond the government and could beapplied to a broad range of commercial applications.Body Armor vests with BPI are