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http://dx.doi.org/10.5850/JKSCT.2012.36.10.1050

Development and Performance Evaluation of Body Armor for Wear Comfort Enhancement  

Kim, Soyoung (Research Institute of Human Ecology, Chungnam National University)
Lee, Yejin (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles, Chungnam National University)
Hong, Kyunghi (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles, Chungnam National University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles / v.36, no.10, 2012 , pp. 1050-1057 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study helps develop a cool body armor that maintains a tight-fit configuration to the body surface and evaluates the performance of newly developed body armor in a wear test. Three types of body armor were used for evaluation. One was a tight fitting body armor that was constructed to improve the degree of fit and ease of movement for Korean soldier using 3D technology. Another was ventilating body armor with attached spacers on the shoulder to reduce the thermal stress on the soldier. The third was a prevailing body armor produced by a Korean body armor company. In order to evaluate the performance of the body armor, a human wear test, a thermal mannequin test, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were executed. Five subjects participated in the wear test. Subjective wear sensation, total amount of sweat and dynamic change of clothing microclimate were observed during and after exercise on a treadmill; subsequently, it was found that subjects rated tight fitting body armor and ventilating body armor lighter, drier, and easier to move than the conventional body armor (p<.05). Total amount of sweat was the least in the case of ventilating body armor. The thermal resistance and vapor resistance of the ventilating body armor were improved remarkably. In addition, the skin temperature of the ventilating body armor with spacers was lower than the tight fitting body armor by at least $1^{\circ}C$ in the CFD result. It is noted that thermal-wet comfort of the 3D body armor with ventilating feature is superior to the conventional body armor, especially when the ventilating channel is not closed due to a backpack.
Keywords
Body armor; Wear comfort; Spacer; Thermal stress; Ease of movement;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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