body armor help

aztileman

dose body armore expire my friend was telling he was pretty sure the the armor degrades over time. is this true??

dcinffxva

It doesn't necessarily "expire" but yes it does degrade over time. The more exposed it is to sunlight, sweat and other fluids (spilling your coffee etc.) the more degraded it becomes.

If you never wear it, and keep it flat and indoors, it will last forever (but why have it?).

If you wear it frequently, but take good care of it, figure about 7 years.

Tailgunner1954

It can also depend on the exact materials used in the construction of the armor, some degrade faster than others. There has been a lot of discussion (and perhaps a lawsuit or 2) about this on the cop boards.

11b6r

As others said, no expiration, but with daily wear- it DOES wear out. A lot of cities run theirs about 4 years, and then donate it to smaller departments that have no armor at all. Worn is better than none.

nards444

its just like any other kind of material. After time its going to break down. Like others said, sunlight, sweat, and dirt are going to break it down. There is no expiration date. To me if taken care of right it should last 10-20 years at minumum

Txs

The "expiration date" your friend is referring to exists. Each body armor manufacturer establishes a date beyond which they no longer guarantee it's performance.

DuPont has always had a 5 yr. time frame for the life of Kevlar, at least some of which is contained in just about all personal armor. This is why most agencies replace them after 4 yrs. This stuff was the first lightweight/concealable body armor and came out back in the early 70's.

It's interesting to note that there's never been a recorded failure of a Kevlar vest against a round it was initially designed to stop, no matter what it's age. I'm aware of incidents where such vests did their job after 10-12 years of wear. The key is that the panel's sealed envelopes are still intact to prevent possible degradation from mold or any sort of chemical contamination.

Lighter weight and thinner Zylon armor was introduced 8-9 yrs. ago. It's manufacturer also gave this material a 5 yr. lifespan but two widely publicized failures 4-5 yrs. later has caused them to roll this back to only a 2 1/2 yr. lifespan.

aztileman

wow guys thanks for the info

hughes1

FYI: Any body armor made of Zylon has been recalled, and its use as a ballistic fiber has been suspended as of 2005. Zylon degrades faster than any other ballistic fiber and the vest were failing before their 5 year warranty was up.

nards444

those numbers are probably based on use. And that use would be police, military, etc. And limits like that are always set low, that they cover their *. so if your a casual wearer and take care of the stuff, i would bet you could double the life of that material

leeblackman

From what I understand most of the expirations are only for manufacture liability. I don't think the NIJ ever standardized an experation date. From what I understand Zylon, which has all been recalled, is the only body armor that has been proven to fail under lab conditions do to aging.

Here is a couple of links to NIJ's reports on ballistic resistant materials, I'm not going to read thru it but it will probably answer other questions or provide a better understanding of body armor.

http://www.eeel.nist.gov/oles/Publications/NIJ-0108.01.pdf

http://www.nlectc.org/pdffiles/0101.04RevA.pdf

This is the link to the report on the Zylon test:

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bvpbasi/docs/08_18_05BAI_QandAs.doc


Hope the links provide answers and help