by Adrienne Lallo/Lallo Communications
Indisputably, protective vests help safeguard the lives of law enforcement personnel. Unfortunately, officers wear them inconsistently. Many cite comfort as a significant concern. Others put them on only if they expect a dangerous situation on duty. Only 55 percent report that they strap on their vests as a matter of course.
Minshon Chiou, Advanced Fiber Systems research fellow and DuPont Scientist of the Month for September, hopes to boost that low percentage by providing more comfortable, lighter weight, more protective choices for law enforcement officers facing diverse threats. He and his team at the Spruance site in Richmond, Virginia, combine polymer know-how, fiber science and fabric engineering to develop new safety protection applications for DuPont™ Kevlar® brand fiber.
“We modify the fiber structure to imbue it with newer, better or different attributes such as increased toughness or improved strength,” explains Chiou, who has lent his expertise to the business for 21 years. To help ensure that they deliver exactly what officers require, Chiou and his team of R&D staff and marketing specialists frequently interact with customers, visiting them individually as well as conversing during trade shows, training sessions and symposiums. Such close contact has spurred successful new products like DuPont™ Kevlar® Correctional™, a soft fabric system of 100 percent Kevlar® that provides superior stab resistance for corrections officers.
Chiou and his team recently developed two technologies that could help further shield those who willingly place their own lives at risk to make ours safer.
The first breakthrough, called DuPont™ Kevlar® Multi-Threat technology, will serve law enforcement personnel who report that threats against them are increasing in number, variety and level of danger. Body armor with this new technology will help provide multiple threat protection against gunshots, spike or knife stabbing, and slashing to officers involved in a wide range of duties such as airport security, immigration enforcement, Coast Guard patrol, inmate transport or domestic dispute intervention. In such disparate scenarios, the type of weapon threat is unpredictable. Vests with this patented technology will be lighter, more flexible and less bulky than existing technology typically made of metal or ceramic plate.
The second innovation, patented DuPont™ Kevlar® Comfort XLT™ technology, will deliver significantly improved ballistic performance while allowing vest designs at least 25 percent lighter than garments constructed with the current system of 100 percent Kevlar®. With these two lighter, more comfortable, more protective Kevlar® performance technologies, officers may be more likely to wear their vests on a daily basis and be better able to safely carry out their tasks.
Chiou’s team created both new technologies using a systems approach that will produce better results for body armor manufacturers and law enforcement officers. “We not only engineered the fine structure of the fiber and property of the fabric to meet the expressed needs, but also developed systems solutions to assemble the garments and obtain the best results possible,” explains Chiou. This solutions-based technique delivers vital innovations more quickly to the marketplace and helps ensure that top quality reaches those whose lives literally depend upon it.