Manufacturing Process
Base Film Preparation: All our PE based soft and hard body armour material is manufactured in-house from raw material to finished product. The raw UHMW-PE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) is drawn into fiber and thread form.The resulting fibre is fed into our specialist machinery, which uses bespoke solvents to glue it onto thin plastic sheets, producing a thin film that will be the base for both our soft and hard body armor products.
Layer Manufacture: 4 pieces of the film are then pressed into a thicker sheet or layer using the hot hydraulic press. These layers are now ready for the beginning of the assembly process, where the bullet proof material begins to take recognisable form as vests, jackets, insert plates and helmets.Vest, helmet and ballistic inserts outlines are added to the layers so they are ready for transformation in the final stage of the manufacturing process.
Soft Body Armor: The layers are sewn together to make the material which is then ready for final finishing. For NIJ IIIA level protection, 36 layers are used for products manufactured to NIJ 0101.04 standard, and 38 layers for NIJ 0101.06.Then soft foam trauma pads are added to help further cushion the force of the impact. The material is then cut into the correct shape for final finishing and adding of the outer camouflage or other colour cover according to the customer's request.
NIJ III and NIJ IV Ballistic Inserts: The layers are cut into 250x300mm sheets and then piled up, the number of sheets depending on the desired protection level. They are then put into a 4 column hot hydraulic press, which transforms them into hard plate, the glue from the original film manufacturing helping to bond the layers together in the heat of the process. Where the inserts have an alumina ceramic or silicon carbide component, the tiles are sandwiched between the layers before they are put into the press.
Ballistic/Bulletproof Helmets: Once the layers have been cut into the correct shape, the sheets (around 36 to 40 pieces depending on protection requirements) are put into a pre-fill press to mould them into helmet form.The next step is then similar to that for ballistic insert and armour plates above, as the pre-formed helmet is then put into the 4 column hot hydraulic press. It is then ready for finishing, painting and adding of the camouflage cover.
