VIENNA, Va. - TelAve -- TenCate Advanced Armor USA, Inc. today presented Cratus™ Wave, a body armor ballistic insert that is thinner than other ultra-lightweight commercially available stand-alone Level III inserts, offering the added potential benefit of reducing heat stress. The Cratus™ Wave has been certified to NIJ Level III test specifications.

This product inaugurates TenCate Advanced Armor's game-changing Trauma Reduction Technology, a patented process that will be used to make thinner plates designed to stop rifle rounds.

Game Changer
The new technology was presented to law enforcement leaders and suppliers during SHOT Show 2023, Jan. 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nev. "Trauma Reduction Technology is an exciting game changer for law enforcement and military personnel," said Andrew Bonham, president of the Virginia-based company.

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This technology redirects the pressure wave trapped between the wearer and the hard armor plates that are inserted into the front and back pockets of body armor carriers, thereby reducing the back face deformation. Precisely formed grooves on the side of the plate closest to the wearer redirect the pressure wave created by a projectile as it strikes the plate.

"The rapid dispersion of energy reduces the force that translates to blunt trauma. Thus, we can keep plates the same and reduce the trauma, or redesign the plate and reduce the thickness as we have with the Cratus™ Wave introduced today," Bonham said.

Energy from a stopped bullet is a hammer-like blow that dents a clay block used in testing to represent the human body. Trauma Reduction Technology reduces back face deformation (BFD), a metric the industry uses as a surrogate for physiological blunt trauma which may occur when a bullet is stopped. The BFD is the indentation a ballistic energy wave makes in the clay block.

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A Step Ahead
"Until now, improvements in armor plates have been incremental with little significant differentiation among competing models," said Jason Kruise, personal protection segment leader. "Using data from Army video X-rays, we could see the shockwave and how it was trapped, and we asked, 'Why can't we vent that energy?'"

"This technology is the right solution at the right time," Kruise continued. Suppliers of ingredients that are used to make the armor composites have signaled they are about to introduce a new generation of materials which will help make armor even lighter.

"These materials, along with a new NIJ standard, should result in a new generation of rifle round protection for both law enforcement and defense groups that rely on NIJ certifications," he added.