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M. S. Parmar et al.
iv. The foam used in the body protectors is not flame retardant. Due to this, there
are chances of catching fire during riot conditions. Nowadays inherent flame
retardant foams are available. These can be tried.
v. The weight of body protectors cause significant fatigue to the wearer during
maintenance of law and order. It is suggested to use some better and lightweight
material to manufacture body protector.
vi. The currently available body protectors are bulky and not designed for female
police and paramilitary soldiers. There is a need to have separate design for
female wearers.
vii. The woven fabrics which are currently being used to manufacture outer cover
of body protectors are neither ‘inherent’ flame retardant nor cut/slash resistant. Besides, the fabric used for outer cover is not having chemical resistance
property. Therefore, there is a need to use such type of outer fabric which is
inherently flame retardant, cut/slash resistant and chemical resistant.
viii. The elastic tape and hook & loop fasteners attached with body protectors are of
very low quality. These accessories are very important to hold body protector
on the body. It was observed that almost all the soldiers were having complaints
about its bad quality. They are using a string or rope to hold various parts of
body protector. It is required to use better quality of these accessories.
3.2 Analysis of Body Protectors
Body protector or anti-riot suit provides protection against brick batting, cane attack,
knife attack, acid attack, Molotov cocktails and projectiles encountered during the
riot. The design of body protector shall be such that it should not hinder the movement
(walking, running and sitting) of soldiers during operation with minimum fatigue and
discomfort. Design shall be ergonomically fit. In this study, 25 body protectors were
procured from the paramilitary forces, police forces and manufacturers to analyse
various properties including stab and impact resistant.
Various parts of body protector: It was found that body protectors are made using
various parts. Trauma pads are kept in pouch made of polyester cotton blend or
100% cotton knitted fabric. Various parts (Fig. 3) and the polymer material used to
manufacture these parts (Hard shell and Trauma pad) are given in Table 4.
Stab and impact test: Out of 25 body protector samples, only two samples S 5 (Penetration depth 18 mm) and S 15 (Penetration depth 19.5 mm) qualified the requirement
of Stab (Knife) test. Rest samples have shown penetration of 25 mm–55 mm. The
reasons of passing S 5 and S 15 samples are (i) hard shell of both the samples is made
out of Polycarbonate (PC) and (ii) thickness of hard shell of these samples are 0.43
and 0.45 mm, respectively, which are higher than others. It is well-known fact that
PC is very tough, impact and stab resistant [17] in nature. This study indicated that
there is a need to improve upon the plastic material used in the manufacture of body
protectors.
M. S. Parmar et al.
iv. The foam used in the body protectors is not flame retardant. Due to this, there
are chances of catching fire during riot conditions. Nowadays inherent flame
retardant foams are available. These can be tried.
v. The weight of body protectors cause significant fatigue to the wearer during
maintenance of law and order. It is suggested to use some better and lightweight
material to manufacture body protector.
vi. The currently available body protectors are bulky and not designed for female
police and paramilitary soldiers. There is a need to have separate design for
female wearers.
vii. The woven fabrics which are currently being used to manufacture outer cover
of body protectors are neither ‘inherent’ flame retardant nor cut/slash resistant. Besides, the fabric used for outer cover is not having chemical resistance
property. Therefore, there is a need to use such type of outer fabric which is
inherently flame retardant, cut/slash resistant and chemical resistant.
viii. The elastic tape and hook & loop fasteners attached with body protectors are of
very low quality. These accessories are very important to hold body protector
on the body. It was observed that almost all the soldiers were having complaints
about its bad quality. They are using a string or rope to hold various parts of
body protector. It is required to use better quality of these accessories.
3.2 Analysis of Body Protectors
Body protector or anti-riot suit provides protection against brick batting, cane attack,
knife attack, acid attack, Molotov cocktails and projectiles encountered during the
riot. The design of body protector shall be such that it should not hinder the movement
(walking, running and sitting) of soldiers during operation with minimum fatigue and
discomfort. Design shall be ergonomically fit. In this study, 25 body protectors were
procured from the paramilitary forces, police forces and manufacturers to analyse
various properties including stab and impact resistant.
Various parts of body protector: It was found that body protectors are made using
various parts. Trauma pads are kept in pouch made of polyester cotton blend or
100% cotton knitted fabric. Various parts (Fig. 3) and the polymer material used to
manufacture these parts (Hard shell and Trauma pad) are given in Table 4.
Stab and impact test: Out of 25 body protector samples, only two samples S 5 (Penetration depth 18 mm) and S 15 (Penetration depth 19.5 mm) qualified the requirement
of Stab (Knife) test. Rest samples have shown penetration of 25 mm–55 mm. The
reasons of passing S 5 and S 15 samples are (i) hard shell of both the samples is made
out of Polycarbonate (PC) and (ii) thickness of hard shell of these samples are 0.43
and 0.45 mm, respectively, which are higher than others. It is well-known fact that
PC is very tough, impact and stab resistant [17] in nature. This study indicated that
there is a need to improve upon the plastic material used in the manufacture of body
protectors.