Testing
The purpose of the testing was to determine the resistance of the protective garment against the “real world” situation of a falling shard of glass from a window. The test was not designed specifically against a possible penetrating threat such as a pointed or edged weapon.
However, for consistency in testing, the profile of the glass shard was selected to be similar to the engineered knife blade S1 specified in the NIJ 0115.00 standard. A 3mm thick glass shard was fabricated with ground edges to increase severity. The shard was then attached to a drop weight apparatus to simulate a fall of specific height and velocity. A 1.52 meter (5 feet) drop height was established, which provided a velocity of approximately 5.43 m/s. The shard was elevated and then dropped onto the protective material. The protective material was positioned over a backing material as described in NIJ 0115.00 standard.
The successful result reflected a situation whereby the dropped shard was not allowed to penetrate the protective material, or witness card, placed on the backing material.
