Optimizing comfort is a constant uphill fight in the realm of body armor. Differences in body type, especially among women, makes this more difficult. Recently BodyArmorNews.com had the exciting opportunity to sit down and chat with Andrea Porter, a PhD candidate at Texas A&M University. Her specialization in ergonomics has led her into body armor research, focusing on armor comfort and performance for women in the field. We spoke about her armor testing on mannequins, specific protective and wearability concerns, and her hopes for the future of female body armor.
Waiting on the Material Science
Within her work, Porter is less concerned with standard lab testing and more involved with the women wearing the armor. In the United States, women are dealing with musculoskeletal problems, pain, and other complications from these vests. “That’s really what I want to solve for the time being. I want to protect them from what the vest is doing to them.”
A current pitfall in material science is the barrier of heat. The temperature needed to mold ballistic materials is too high for the material to maintain ballistic integrity. This prevents manufacturers from tailoring the material and enhancing comfort and performance. When asked about the future, Porter said that 3D scans in combination with molded materials could make a big impact. “We can use a 3D scan of your toso and mold the armor so it fits you exactly. Currently armor manufacturers make a concave, or structured armor, but the placement of breasts on the body varies greatly by females. You can put room for breasts, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the breasts are going to be where the extra room is.”
We asked Porter about the extent to which comfort concerns of ill-fitting plates also becomes a safety issue. “It’s definitely a safety issue at the triangle around the armpits,” she said. “When the armor comes out to accommodate the breast, depending on the type of armor that you’re wearing, some of them leave an unprotected triangle right at the top upper corner of the breast area.” Not only can ill-fitting armor cause baseline discomfort, but it can also put the individual at risk. “There are several armor companies that have tried to change how they do the armor cuts to mitigate the lack of protection in that area. It comes down to what armor you use and how it’s measured.”
Testing Operations with Survival Armor
Porter, with help from Survival Armor in Fort Myers, Florida, conducted a unique type of test with protective panels using mannequins. The idea was to simulate how the armor performs when attached to the body. This contrasts the NIJ certification testing, which uses a flat clay block. The test, being outside of NIJ standards, allowed for more tailoring on their end.
“It was important to us that we test armor on a simulated female body, to test how the armor performs compared to a test on a flat block,” Porter said. A dummy was made of Roma Plastilina No. 1 clay, onto which they velcroed the armor. This provided tension to the armor, like it would have when fit around a body. They were also able to add silicon breasts and a bra in order to simulate the fit on a woman.
They tested the xiphoid process area, the place where the ribs come together below the sternum. “First, we measured the gap between the body and the armor at that xiphoid process area on females,” Porter explained. They performed 3D scans with and without armor to gauge the size of the gap, and then tested how well the female body armor would perform.
With Survival Armor, we actually used level II armor with the IIIA threat, and it still performed great.
Reception in the Body Armor Industry
Thankfully for women and men alike, Porter’s research has been enthusiastically backed and supported by different subsets of audiences. She pointed out that the issue of comfort extends to men as well. Any strides they make for female body armor will also impact the male armor in a positive way. “Everybody’s like, yes, this is a huge problem and we need to do something,” Porter exclaimed. “It’s been really great.”
While it’s been positively received, this kind of research still needs industry funding to continue moving forward. With most of the limitations due to materials science, the more funding that is poured into these developments, the faster our women and men can have enhanced comfort and performance.
