Trauma pads, called trauma plates or ballistic panels, are protective gear that provides additional protection to a person wearing a bulletproof vest. These inserts are mostly placed in the front, back, and side pockets of a bulletproof vest or carrier plate.

In simple terms, backface deformation refers to the backside of the plate, where the bullet is caught and prevented from exiting and penetrating your body; it’s the indent caused. When you’re shot, the backface is deformed.

If this “back face” deformation is beyond 44 mm, for example, it is generally deemed unsuitable for armor materials that are worn directly on the body. Such a large amount of deformation could cause serious injury or be lethal, even though the threat may not penetrate the skin [27].

Backface signature is the amount of deformation, or damage, created on the backside of a piece of armor after an impact. The amount of backface signature is defined by the quality of your armor, along with the speed, velocity, weight, and caliber of the projectile.

Center-fire rifle bullets also cause blunt trauma by tissue displacement (temporary cavitation). The ability of different tissues to survive this blunt trauma is related primarily to tissue elasticity and cohesiveness.

FragLock™ is our new, proprietary anti-frag coating, which is being used on both our base coat as well as our build up. Our build-up coat is at least 5 times thicker than our minimum base coat. Each coat is designed to address fragmentation in a different way.

1. Tearing and crushing of the tissues: This occurs along the projectile track and from fragments that may break off from the projectile. 2. Cavitation: When a high-energy projectile travels through the relatively liquid human body, it forms a cavity along the track of the bullet.

In addition to causing damage to the tissues they contact, medium- and high-velocity projectiles cause a secondary cavitation injury: as the object enters the body, it creates a pressure wave which forces tissue out of the way, creating a cavity can be much larger than the object itself; this is called “temporary …

Spartan Armor Systems® Trauma Pads are constructed utilizing highly durable and comfortable Nylon Ripstop fabric, the same material BDUs are made from. We recommend the use of trauma pads with all body armor, especially ceramic body armor which is more prone to backface deformation.

Please note that regular trauma pads do not provide any ballistic protection whatsoever. Our level IIIA Flex Fused Core™ soft body armor is the perfect choice for this option and comes in various sizes.

AR500 body armor has a spall and fragmentation coating on its base coat purposely designed to protect the armor and the wearer. Meanwhile, the build-up coat provides an extra-thick layer to the armor plate.

Base coats are only intended to keep a steel body armor plate from corroding; it’s not going to help mitigate spalling and fragmentation. A build-up coat is much more likely to protect against shrapnel, and if you’re buying steel armor plates, you should really consider getting it added on if it doesn’t come standard.