imported post
You can get those vests at
http://www.bulletproofme.com
As a soon to be textile engineer I'm going to guarantee you that unless you've stored it improperly for a long time period, it will be fine. You'll also notice that the body that actually rates these vests (NIJ) even admits that older armor, even up to 10 years old, is fine.
http://www.bulletproofme.com/Bullet_proof_Vests_Catalog.shtml#Police_Surplus
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NIJ tests failed to demonstrate any significant differences in 10-year-old armor, regardless of the extent of use or apparent physical condition
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The warranty exists solely to limit the manufacturer's liability on the product and is not a reflection of the anticipated service life of the product.
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They do not say that about the armor made before they changed the ratings though. That armor is no longer able to be sold as body armor, and is probably weaker, not due to degradation, but due to different requirements (And possibly different methods of weaving and other factors) at that time. They said it stops .357 JSP and 9mm without a problem though, and show the vest after it's been shot. But that's the reason it's $20, it's "not body armor." You can buy a few of them and shoot them yourself if you want to see how strong they are.
If you spend around $100 or a bit more, you can get a newer, still considered body armor, kevlar vest. This is probably what I'd do, but the $20 vest is DEFINITELY better than nothing. Kevlar does not degrade readily in the atmosphere like food does. That analogy was kind of poor. Check out the tests they've done on that website as well as the information provided about older body armor. I don't think kevlar "expires" after 3 years. It could even expire as filament yarns in storage and/or could be significantly degraded before even being woven if that were the case. The Kevlar we use at school doesn't have that problem..
Unless you're storing it at 160 degrees celsius, which would kill you if you were in those conditions (40 degrees celsius is a very hot summer day), or in direct sunlight for years, then it will not degrade like you're saying. It will degrade, as all things do eventually, but it does take quite a bit of time. Also consider that the kevlar is not directly exposed to light, even if all you were wearing was the vest itself, unless the vest's exterior is somehow torn.
An interesting fact is that kevlar, on a molecular level, is identical to nomex except that the benzene rings are oriented parallel to the polymer chain instead of perpendicular. This makes a very straight polymer chain that has strong cross-linking with other chains, making the tensile strength very high. Hence the reason it can handle an impact when woven into a fabric. If you impact the fabric normal to the fabric's plane, it pulls on all of the fibers in the weave. This stuff isn't really going to biodegrade too easily though, it's an aramid, fully synthetic.
I like LEO229's comment that if you need to wear a vest then you need to consider if you need to go there to start with.
I said it once in this thread, and I'll say it again:
Not all of us have a choice; some of us are "forced" (I know, I
could quit school and work, but then I'd likely be poor and would owe tons of money on student loans for nothing) to work or go to school in victim disarmament zones. I made a thread recently about two guys being robbed at gunpoint in front of their dorm on campus where I go to school. People are regularly robbed at my school, and I have to be disarmed to be legal on campus. My school has it's own police department, with horses, bicycles, trucks, cars, etc. They are on patrol all the time, and it still happens constantly. I think we all know why that is, don't we?
Yeah, "don't go" my a**. That's really easy for you to say, but I don't plan on giving up my degree because you think I shouldn't go to school. Wearing a vest may have saved numerous people in these school shootings, just like having guns may have. I don't see why you can't accept the fact that people do in fact have to go into harms way occasionally, and by harms way I mean just about any university in this country.
Just because someone is considering body armor doesn't mean they're going out to get into a gang war.
Why do you carry a gun? If you "think you need it" so much then you shouldn't be going out of your house. :quirky
In fact, if you "think you need" a gun in your house, you shouldn't be there either!!! :banghead:
This is just another "insurance policy" IMO. You know everybody on here likes to say, "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." Why do you think that can't apply to a low cost kevlar vest?