Development of adaptive bust for female soft body armour using three dimensional (3D) warp interlock fabrics: Three dimensional (3D) design process

Abstract

The traditional two dimensional (2D) pattern making method for developing female body armour has a negative effect on the ballistic protective performance as well as the comfort of the wearer. This is due to, unlike the male body armour, the female body armour manufacturing involves different darts to accommodate the natural curvature of the female body, i.e. bust area, which will reveals the weak parts at the seam and stitch area while ballistic impact. Moreover, the proper bra size also plays an important role not only in bra design but also in the design of a women’s ballistic vest. The present research study tried to propose the novel 3D designing approach for developing different volumes of breast using feature points (both bust surface and outline points) in the specific 3D adaptive mannequin. Later the flattened 3D bra patterns of this method has been also compare with the 2D standard pattern making in order to modify and match with 2D traditional method. The result indicated that the proposed method which conceives the 3D patterns on the 3D bust is easier to implement and can generate patterns with satisfactory fit and comfort as compared to 2D patterns.