CO> VH> The two key elements of penetration were stretch and tensile 
rength.
CO> VH> Kevlar has virtually zero stretch and a very high tensile strength.
CO> VH> When the bullet hits the vest, the threads of the vest neither 
tretch
CO> VH> nor break.  The bullet tries to carry these threads with it.
CO>
CO> VH> Now, none of this has anything to do with the material the bullet is 
md
CO> VH> out of.  The bullet can be made of pure lead, or sintered tungsten.  
It
CO> VH> makes no difference.  To penetrate a kevlar vest, you need velocity.
CO> VH> There is one exception to this -- kevlar cannot resist a sharp edge.  
A
CO> VH> knife will cut right through a vest, just like through any other 
cloth.
CO>A few years ago, a vest salesman was giving a sales pitch for his Kevlar 
ves
CO>and invited one of the attendees to try to stab him in the chest with a 
hunt
CO>knife.  The attendee did and killed the salesman deader than a mackeral.  
As
CO>point out, Kevlar can't defeat sharp points and edges.
I didn't think people THAT dumb lived to grow up!!
I hope this happened before the salesman had children and passed his
genes along to another generation. :-)
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