This thesis focuses on the development of a new technique which enables a novel type of front panel for female body armour to be engineered, providing female contour, high level protection, and therefore comfort in wearing. The traditional cutting and stitching method can be used to form a dome shape to accommodate the bust area but it gives rise to weakness against projectile impact at the seams. A novel type of fabric with the advantage in mouldability is needed as an alternative to the conventional plain woven fabric in making female body armour without the need of cutting or folding but ease in manufacture. Dome-shaped fabric and angle-interlock woven fabric are two potential candidates. The analysis and comparisons determine the selection of the fabric with superior dome depth which is more suitable for the female body armour application. Ballistic evaluations on the selected fabric were carried out from two aspects: the overall ballistic performance investigation and the parametric study. The result provided a better understanding of kinetic energy absorption capability of single-piece selected fabrics. Additionally, the ballistic performance of fabric panels was further evaluated in the factory in order to ensure the selected fabric could achieve the commercial requirement. After the investigations of mouldability and ballistic resistance of the selected fabric, a mathematical model was created, which determines the pattern geometry for the front panel of the female body armour. This mathematical model takes the body figure size and bra size as the input, and the output is the profile of the front panel of female body armour. This work enables the speedy creation of a front panel of the female body armour in the selected fabric. This is an important advance and a novel approach for making seamless female body armour with satisfactory ballistic performance.
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