IMPACT DAMAGE ANALYSIS IN A LEVEL III FLEXIBLE BODY ARMOR VEST

USING XCT DIAGNOSTICS

J oe Wells
1
, Nevin Rupert
2
, Murray Neal
3

1. Consultant, Mashpee, MA, USA, 774-836-0904, jwells24@jhuedu
2. NLR Technologies LLC, Kittanning, PA, USA.
3. Pinnacle Armor Inc., Fresno, CA, USA.

ABSTRACT
A comprehensive interrogation and ballistic impact damage analysis was recently
conducted on a level III flexible body armor vest using non-invasive x-ray computed
tomography, XCT, diagnostic techniques. The archival vest was manufactured ~1999 by
Pinnacle Armor, Inc. and was twice impacted with a level III M-80 ball round at the same
impact location. The vest incorporates an imbricated network of zirconia toughened
alumina, ZTA, ceramic disks 50mm in diameter in stitched, multi-layered ballistic fabric
architecture. Full vest XCT scans were conducted sequentially prior to impact, after the
first impact, and again after the second impact. Three dimensional solid object renderings
of the vest in each impact condition were reconstructed using the Volume Graphics
StudioMax 3-D voxel analysis and visualization software package.
Results of the damage analysis discussed for this flexible body armor vest include:
the morphology and metrology of the localized impact cavity and the limited damage
confined to the ceramic disks immediately adjacent to the impact location; the absence of
damage in the ceramic disk array at distances removed from the impact cavity; the location,
size, and morphology of the major residual projectile fragments residing in front of the
ceramic striking face; and the complete lack of perforation of the vest back face. These
results are briefly contrasted with a rigid level III ceramic plate technology from a similar
XCT damage diagnostic study reported previously. The Pinnacle Dragon Skin flexible
body armor vest, while structurally more complex than the monolithic ceramic and
composite backing plates of the rigid interceptor body armor, demonstrated smaller and
more localized damage and appears quite amenable to non-invasive XCT interrogation and
damage diagnostics.
BACKGROUND
The non-invasive in situ XCT diagnostics, characterization, and 3-D visualization of
ballistic impact damage details in laboratory armor ceramic terminal ballistic targets have
been successfully demonstrated over the past decade. Until recently, no known application
of this technology had been demonstrated and published on actual ballistically impacted
body armor protective vests. Our recent work reported on the successful application of the
XCT damage diagnostic modality for the ballistic impact damage characterization in a
level-III rigid body armor vest [1]. Subsequently it was desired to evaluate the applicability
of this technology toward the characterization of impact damage in the considerably more
complex architecture of a level-III Pinnacle Dragon Skin flexible body armor vest.
FLEXIBLE BODY ARMOR VEST
The subject personal protection vest was provided by Pinnacle Armor, Inc. of Fresno,
CA. It was identified as a Dragon SkinLevel-III flexible body armor vest produced circa
1999. The unique architectural design of the vest includes an imbricated array of ceramic
disks in 10 horizontal rows with the number of disks per row varying from 3 in the top row
to a maximum of 9 disks in the widest row to 6 disks in the bottom row as shown in Table
I. These ceramic disks were made of ZTA (zirconia toughened alumina) and measure
50mm in diameter. Each disk is encased within a ballistic fabric sheath and is stitched in
between layers of ballistic fabric so as to allow local movement with respect to the adjacent
overlapping neighboring disks in the overall array. The disk array is then inserted into an
external outer tactical vest, OTV.
Table I. Details of the ZTA ceramic disk arrangement in the subject Level-III vest




BALLISTIC TESTING AND XCT SCANNING APPROACH
The subject vest was ballistically impacted at the same location with two sequential
impacts by a level-III NATO 7.62 x 51-mm M-80 ball projectile at a velocity (V
0
) ranging
from 2,850 to 2,890 fps. Full vest XCT scans were conducted sequentially prior to impact,
after the first impact, and again after the second impact. The XCT scans were conducted
post-impact with a 450 kV x-ray fan beam orientation perpendicular to the normal
projectile direction. It is not presently possible to conduct these XCT scans in real time
during impact. Three dimensional solid object renderings of the vest in each impact
condition were reconstructed using the Volume Graphics StudioMax 3-D voxel analysis
and visualization software package [2]. Subsequently, virtual sectioning, in situ metrology,
grey level filtering, virtual transparency, variable magnification and rotational adjustments,
and feature segmentation and isolation image processing steps were all applied to
distinguish and discriminate both the architectural as well as the damage features of
interest.
UN-IMPACTED VEST RESULTS
The original 3-D solid object images reconstructed from the XCT scans of the un-
impacted vest condition are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Note that the Volume Graphics
StudioMaxsoftware presents the front or strike face view with the vest top facing upward
in these images and the rear or backside view with the vest top facing downward. This
orientation protocol is used here throughout this study and makes it relatively easier to
distinguish the front versus rear face views. In the reconstructed x-ray images that are
shown throughout this report, the lighter the feature, the greater the grey level and hence,
the greater is the density of that feature. Thus the darker grey levels represent the various
low density ballistic fabrics in Figure 1 and are virtually eliminated by raising the grey
level filtering level as shown in Figure 2. It also must be noted that all of the images
presented in this report are NOT conventional photographs but rather are high resolution
images reconstructed from the x-ray computed tomography, XCT, x-ray scan data.

Row # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Disks 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 7 6
Location Top of
vest

Bottom of
vest


Figure 1. Vest condition S-0 (un-impacted) at a low grey level, GL, (density),
segmentation showing vest fabric outlines and individual disks from both the front (left)
and rear (right) normal views.

Figure 2. Vest condition S-0 (un-impacted) at an increased grey level, GL, (density),
filtering showing the virtual absence of vest fabrics revealing only the individual
imbricated disks from both the front (left) and rear (right) normal views.
SINGLE-IMPACTED VEST RESULTS
The uniformly imbricated ceramic disk arrangement, the higher density projectile
fragments, and the surrounding ballistic fabrics with multiple-stitched fabric bar tack
peripheral segments on the outside vest edges are clearly apparent in the single impacted
condition as shown in Figure 3. Of main interest in this figure, however, is the single
irregular shaped ballistic cavity just off center in the sixth and seventh disk row from the
top of the vest. This is the sole impact damage area observed.

Figure 3. Vest condition S=1 (single impact) at relatively low grey level, GL, density
segmentation showing the sole irregularly shaped impact crater with a substantial sized
residual projectile fragment visible from both the front (left) and rear (right) normal views.

Close up views of the ballistic cavity are shown from a front normal, front oblique,
and then from a completely segmented front oblique view of the fragments alone,
respectively, in Figure 4. It is observed in the front normal view that the major residual
projectile fragment is actually split into two separate large segments, both residing in front
of the ceramic disk array, as clearly seen in the front oblique view.

Figure 4. Vest condition-S-1 (single impact) close up views front normal (left), front
oblique (middle), and fragment only segmented front oblique views showing the split main
fragment morphology located in front of the front strike face.
DOUBLE-IMPACTED VEST RESULTS
A comparable view of the vest following the second impact is shown in Figure 5.
Again, only a single ballistic cavity is observed in the same location as in the S-1
condition. No other ceramic disk array damage is observed apart from this location.

Figure 5. Vest conditionS-2 (double impact) at relatively low grey level, GL, (density)
segmentation showing the sole irregularly shaped impact crater slightly enlarged with the
substantial sized residual projectile fragment remaining visible from both the front (left)
and rear (right) normal views.
A close up front oblique view and a front transverse view of this impact cavity
location in the S-2 condition is shown in Figure 6. The location of the large residual
projectile fragment(s) is again shown to be in front of the ceramic array strike face as
before. Ceramic damage is observed only in those disks immediately adjacent to the
ballistic cavity. Initial attempts to obtain higher resolution images of the damaged ceramic
fracture faces in situ within the large overall vest reconstructed XCT scanning file were
unsuccessful.

Figure 6. Vest condition C (S-2) Oblique front side view (left) and frontal transverse
virtually sectioned view (right) with ceramic disk fracture surfaces and residual projectile
fragments suspended within the ballistic fabric (non-visible) in front of ZTA ceramic
disks.
BALLISTIC IMPACT CAVITY DETAILS
A close up comparison of magnified normal images of the ballistic impact cavity from
both the S-1 and the S-2 impacted vest conditions are shown in Figure 7. Two in situ linear
measurements made on the arbitrary L and W axes of the impact cavity in each impact
condition are indicated in this figure. While close, all images in this figure are not at the
identical magnification.

Vest condition- S-1(single impact). L1=63.7mm & W1=50.1mm in front view (left) and
rear view (right).

Vest condition S-2 (double impact). L2=65.7mm & W2=65.0mm in front view (left) and
rear view (right).
Figure 7. Comparative visualizations of the impact crater in vest condition S-1 and S-2.

It is readily apparent that some enlargement of the cavity occurred with the 2
nd
impact,
particularly, along the W-axis (from 50.1 to 65mm).

Figure 8. Close up view of the ballistic cavity in vest condition S-2 (double impact)
showing the encircled damaged regions of three of the six ceramic disks immediately
surrounding the ballistic cavity as well as the major and minor residual projectile fragments
front view (left) and some in situ positional and dimensional metrology from the rear view
(right).
All ceramic crater damage is found to be quite localized to a few of the disk edges
immediately surrounding the crater as indicated by the three circled irregular disk edges in
Figure 8. A second substantial, albeit somewhat smaller, residual projectile fragment also
becomes observable at the cavity location in the S-2 vest condition. Selective in situ
positional and dimensional metrology results also shown in Figure 8 reveal a separation
distance between the two fragments as ~19.7mm. The approximate dimensions of the larger
fragment are shown a ~19.5mm by ~18.2mm.
TRANSVERSE AND LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS in Vest Condition S-2
Longitudinal and transverse virtual sections showing the final rest position of the
larger residual projectile fragments in front of the ceramic array are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Longitudinal section (above) and transverse (frontal - middle) and longitudinal
(sagittal -botton) cross-sections of vest condition C at GLseg values of 1207 (left) and 2239
(right).

BRIEF COMPARISON OF RESULTS BETWEEN THE FLEXIBLE VS RIGID VESTS
A brief summary comparison is made between the XCT damage diagnostics results
found in the previous paper [1] on the level III interceptor rigid body armor vest with
those results found for this Pinnacle flexible body armor vest and is presented in Table II.
Both vests were impacted by the identical type NATO 7.62 x 51 mm M-80 Ball round at
velocities ranging from 2,850 to 2890 fps.




TABLE II COMPARISON OF RESULTS BETWEEN THE FLEXIBLE VS RIGID VESTS

SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS:
The conclusions reached from this study are as follows:
Only a single well delineated impact damage cavity in the regular overlapping
ceramic disk architecture is observed, clearly indicating that the second impact in vest
condition S-2 was very close to the location of the first impact in vest condition S-1. No
other significant damage in the ceramic disk arrangement was observed other than at, or
immediately adjacent to, the impact location in vest conditions S-1 and S-2. This common
ceramic disk damage cavity consists essentially of fragmented and displaced ceramic with
one disk completely obliterated and some partial fragmentation of immediately adjacent
ceramic disks. The ceramic cavity in vest condition S-2 is somewhat larger than in
condition S-1.
A common large projectile fragment is observed in the cavity area following both
impacts. This large residual projectile fragment was found to unequivocally reside in
ballistic fabric directly in front of the cavity in the ceramic array. This terminal fragment
location is quite distinct from the projectile fragment capture location typically observed
Body Armor/
Observations
Interceptor (Rigid) Level III Pinnacle (Flexible) - Level III
Basic Architecture Curved solid B4C ceramic strike
plate adhered to a rigid organic
composite backing plate.
Multiple overlapping ZTA ceramic
disks embedded within multiple
layers of inter-stitched ballistic
fabrics.
Hit Locations Three impacts at widely separate
locations.
Two impacts at essentially the same
location.
Impact Cavity Three large individual through
cavities in B4C ceramic strike
plate. Less wide cavities behind
in the composite backing plate.
Single through cavity in the ZTA
ceramic disk array, slightly
enlarged with the 2nd impact.
Projectile Fragments Size distribution of multiple
projectile fragments captured in
the backing plate material
behind the cavity location.
One large and a few smaller
projectile fragments captured by
ballistic fabric layers in front of the
cavity location.
Interface Separation Extensive (~240 degrees)
interface separation between the
B4C strike plate and composite
backing plate.
Intermittent interlayer separation of
ballistic fabrics enveloping major
projectile fragments in front of the
ZTA ceramic array cavity.
Cracking Extensive fragmentation plus
extended and interconnected
radial cracking within B4C strike
face about each impact cavity.
Cracking and fracture damage
localized within only 3 damaged
ZTA ceramic disks adjacent to
cavity. No damage observed in
disks away from the impact cavity.
Perforation Status Through perforations of the
backing plate rear surface were
observed at all 3 hit locations.

No perforations of the rear ballistic
fabric face were observed.

behind the ceramic striking face of solid rigid armor ceramic systems. Additional smaller
irregular fragments of both the ceramic disks and the projectile are observed surrounding
the impact cavity on both the front and the rear sides of impacted vest conditions. Several
smaller projectile fragments are also located at the bottom of the flexible vest. It is assumed
that these latter projectile fragments originally resided near the impact cavity and then fell
to the vest bottom during the inevitable handling in between the successive ballistic testing
impacts and the XCT scanning stages.
In situ metrology provided measurements of the cavity linear and area dimensions,
as well as measurements of the local positioning, diameter, surface area and volume of the
major residual projectile fragments. Cracking damage and impact-induced fracture surfaces
were highly localized as observed only in three of the six ceramic disks immediately
adjacent to the ballistic impact cavity. The ceramic disks were found to have a deviation
range in grey level values indicating a density gradient and/or a non-homogeneous
composition. This GL range is attributed to the lower volume fraction, but higher density,
of the zirconia material mixed within the alumina ceramic disk composition.
Observations in the oblique view and transverse sections show the larger fragments
are positioned in front of the ceramic array and within the highly plied inter-stitched layers
of ballistic fabric which remain between all residual projectile fragments and the vest rear
surface. No perforation by the projectile fragments was observed on the rear surface in
either vest impact condition.
While structurally more complex than the monolithic ceramic and composite
backing plates of the rigid interceptor body armor, the flexible vest revealed appreciably
smaller and more localized damage following two sequential impacts in the same location
as compared to that found previously at the location of any one of three widely separated
individual impacts in the prior rigid vest examination.
The Pinnacle Dragon Skinflexible body armor vest appears quite amenable to
non-invasive XCT interrogation and damage diagnostics. Most of the diagnostic impact
damage details observed and presented in this report would not have been achievable with
the traditional 2D digital radiographic NDE modality.

REFERENCES:
1. J .M. Wells and N.L. Rupert, On the XCT Diagnostics of Ballistic Impact damage in a
B
4
C Ceramic Body Armor Plate,: Proc. 24
th
International Symposium on ballistics,
NDIA, (2008), 430-438.
2. http://www.volumegraphics.com/