Chesapeake Testing Purchases State-of-the-Art Stab Testing Machine

Chesapeake Testing, a ballistic experimentation and non-destructive testing company, recently purchased a new state-of-the-art stab testing machine. This machine allows Chesapeake Testing to conduct stab test in compliance with the National Institute of Justice Standard 0115.0. The upgrade of this equipment allows Chesapeake Testing, an NIJ approved laboratory, to continue providing research, certification, and compliance testing in the munitions and protection systems fields.This standard, developed by the Office of Law Enforcement Standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in collaboration with the Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB) in the United Kingdom (UK) specifies the minimum performance requirements for stab resistant armor. As stated by the NIJ “This is the first true United State (US) standard dealing with the threat posed by pointed and edge weapons.”Supplied by Biokinetics and Associates Ltd, the system’s drop missile is fitted with a magnet to allow for height adjustments inside the tube in preparation of a stab test. Velocity is measured prior to the missile striking the armor using a twin-beam laser velocity gate (located at the bottom of the drop tube) to accurately calculate impact energies. In addition, custom software informs technicians of any manual adjustments required to fine-tune drop heights and achieve the consistent velocities as stated for various protection levels by the standard. These protection levels include:

• Level I Armor Low energy threats with strike energies of 24 Joules. The overtest condition for this level is 36 Joules.
• Level II Armor Medium Energy threats with strike energies of 33 Joules. The overtest condition for this level is 50 Joules.
• Level III Armor high energy threats with strike energies of 43 Joules. The overtest condition for this level is 65 Joules.

“With this new equipment, Chesapeake Testing has the capabilities of providing body armor manufacturers with the data they need to evaluate their material so that it can be improved to provide better protection” said Cameron Showell, Test Engineer in the Stab division of Chesapeake Testing.Additionally Chesapeake Testing also has the most powerful industrial microfocus CT Scanning system in North America that allows the armor to be x-rayed before and after the stab test. This nondestructive testing method gives customers a 3-D image of their armor showing invisible assembly errors, structural material imperfections, composite material delaminating and many other material flaws both externally and internally that would be beneficial for the manufacturer to see.