Lightweight Textile and Fiber-Reinforced Composites for Soft Body Armor (SBA): Advances in Panel Design, Materials, and Testing Standards

Soft body armor (SBA) remains an essential component of first responder protection. However, most SBA design concepts do not adequately address the unique performance, morphological, and psychological needs of women as first responders. In this review, female-specific designs of ballistic-resistant panels, material systems, and SBA performance testing are critically examined. The paper also explores innovations in shaping and design techniques, including darting, dartless shape construction, modular assembly, and body scanning with CAD integration to create contoured and structurally stable panels with improved coverage, reduced bulk, and greater mobility. In addition, the review addresses broadly used and emerging dry textile fabrics and fiber-reinforced polymers, considering various innovations, such as 3D warp interlock weave, shear thickening fluid (STF) coating, nanomaterials, and smart composites that improve energy dissipation and impact tolerance without sacrificing flexibility. In addition, the paper also examines various emerging ballistic performance testing standards and their revisions to incorporate gender-specific standards and measures their ability to decrease trauma effects and maintain flexibility and practical protection. Finally, it identifies existing challenges and areas of future research, such as optimizing multi-layer systems, addressing fatigue behavior, and improving multi-angle and low-velocity impact performance while providing avenues for future sustainable, adaptive, and performance-optimized body armor.