UHMWPE stand alone but used ICW lvl IIIA soft armor

[Clint]

PE is relatively soft compared to the perpetrator.

Adding a softer backer won't help in a meaningful way.

The only thing harder than the penetrator is the ceramic found in L3 and L4 plates, which breaks up the projectile.

The ceramic gets locally pulverized when hit and the whole mess is caught by the PE backer.

[ace4059]

Clint, thanks for the explanation

[turnburglar]

They also don’t pay for replacements.
I could just see something getting throw on top of my carrier, or taking it out of the trunk at the end of the day and it getting dropped.
Not sure why people are trying to talk me into ceramic.
I thought this was about if soft armor would provide additional protection with polyethylene

See my above post. These are ceramic rifle plates made for combat. Not dish plates. Big difference.

We are tying to talk you into ceramics because you want greater than LVL3 protection. Thats how you get there.

No matter what you are stopping; it is velocity dependent. I saw testing where the UHMWPE plates could stop M855 once it got below 2300FPS or about 200 yards out of a 16" barrel. So would adding soft armor behind the plate adjust that velocity threshold up? Maybe. By how much? Cant say. What I can say is that it still won't handle M855 at 15 yards no matter what without ceramic.

[MegademiC]

Yes, I understand lvl IV has ceramic. I’m not looking at DIY or homemade armor, or trying to add a ceramic plate to the front of my current setup.

I wish the Hesco 210 plates would stop a lead 308. That’s the only thing I see lacking in my opinion.
Does the 210 plates have any ceramic in them? My only concern is being rough on the plates and cracking the ceramic.
I wonder if a 210 plate used ICW soft armor would stop a lead 308?

Iirc, adding a iia plate behind the l210 does defeat m80. Id research it, but i remember reading it will stop it but have too great deformation. I do not recall the source.

210s are ceramic.

The l210 Do not stop m855a1. The u210s do. U210 is also 1.6lb lighter and marginally thinner.

[MegademiC]

I don't want to burn through my plates, testing this but I had a similar thought to yours.

Kinda of different solution though.




What makes plates LVL4 capable isn't their addition of aramid fibers behind the core, it is the addition of ceramic plates infront of the core. I went to home depot and bought a sheet of octagonal tile. I plan on cutting the tile to fit the shape of a plate, and then filling in the gaps and basting it with Silicone adhesive. Once properly infused, roll the plate in codura like wrapping a book in Xmas paper, and applying the adhesive to every layer creating a lamination effect. Also you want the adhesive to catalyze under pressure so find some way to apply pressure to the plate without cracking the ceramic for at least 48 hours. You will want at least 4-6 folds of laminated cordura behind the newly created ceramic core. This new plate will ride IN FRONT of the UHMWPE. The ceramic disrupts and breaks apart the steel core, and the UHMWPE acts as a net to catch the slug and tip rements.

I hope this is a test, not for use. Is it boron and/or silica carbide tile? I would not expect tile to have any effect, and if you do...

A lot of materials science and engineering goes into a half inch 4# plate that stops m855a1. Even the uhmwpe... i doubt a chunk of it from mcmaster would not produce the same results. The material chemistry, Layering, structure, microstructure, density, etc all have a lot to contribute.

[1168]

They also don’t pay for replacements.
I could just see something getting throw on top of my carrier, or taking it out of the trunk at the end of the day and it getting dropped.
Not sure why people are trying to talk me into ceramic.
I thought this was about if soft armor would provide additional protection with polyethylene

They’re not getting replaced very often. Shit, when I was a Mortard, we used to pound aiming stakes in with our front plates while wearing them.

[turnburglar]

[QUOTE=MegademiC;2896475]I hope this is a test, not for use. Is it boron and/or silica carbide tile? I would not expect tile to have any effect, and if you do...
/QUOTE]

I actually want to make a few to test some. That's a good point about the composition of the ceramics themselves as not all ceramics are created equal. I could do some research or testing to figure it out.

To be fair though, theres videos on YT where a kid made a tile and denim plate like I am talking about, and it was able to stop 223. I think stacking ANYTHING near silica infront of an already true LVL3 plate.... wouldn't be hurting anything.


This brings up the question though: How much of a threat is M855&A1? Some people see it as a huge threat. Personally I just cant wear plates that heavy. 3.5# UHMPWE seem like a decent compromise to me.

[Clint]

Hesco says the L210 will stop 3 round of M855A1.

[MegademiC]

The threat matrix shows the u210, not the l210 stops the a1.
U210 are 4# each. Or did you get that info from them directly? Im not sure what requirements are to get on their list for #of hits.

Do your 3.5# plastic plates stop m193? How heavy will they be with tiles glued to the front?
Thin, lightweight, cheap, effective... pick 3

[Jellybean]

Could a stand alone UHMWPE plate backed with lvl IIIA soft armor stop the steel penetrator tip of M855?

I am trying to find some tests or research on a stand alone polyethylene but where someone puts soft armor behind it for M855.
...

I could swear I already saw someone do this sort of test on YT, but for the life of me can't remember who it was.

That being said, there is more than enough 'tests' on YT of UHWMPE armor showing that 855 will buzz right through it with reliable ease and little to no frag.
So yeah... it's going to buzz right through that IIIA backer too, regardless of if it's behind a non-855-rated 'plastic' plate.

Just
Get
Plates
Properly
Rated
For
The
Threat
You
Want
To
Stop.

Good grief.

IMHO, the only way soft backers make sense (in the current plate market) is to mitigate BFD on thin plates. That being said, with the addition of the backers, you're still getting real close to thickness of plates that are already meant to stop those rounds with acceptable BFD. It would come down to price; is it worth ditching the current plates and buying new ones that do everything right, or worth it to put up with a stop-gap measure.