ULTAR™ SQ UD polyethylene laminates for multi-layer flexible packs. For concealable vests, overt carriers and soft armour inserts.
A soft armour panel has to stop a defined threat, survive multiple hits, and be light and pliable enough that the wearer actually keeps it on. Every gram and every millimetre you take out of the pack is a competitive advantage in a market where the buyer tries the vest on before they buy it.
UHMWPE is proportionally lighter than aramid, which is why it dominates lightweight and concealable designs. But it is not a straight substitution — aramid contributes behaviour that polyethylene does not, and in practice the best-performing packs are frequently combinations of the two rather than either alone.
Which means the material question is not which fibre. It is what construction — and that is a design problem, not a purchasing decision.
ULTAR™ SQ laminates are supplied as roll material and stacked into a multi-layer pack. They are not consolidated — the layers stay flexible, which is what gives a soft panel its drape and comfort.
SQ laminates are unidirectional composites of high-tenacity UHMWPE fibre: parallel fibres laid tension-free in a flexible matrix, cross-plied at 0°/90° and enclosed between polyethylene films. They are suited to soft ballistic packages where flexibility, wearer comfort and back-face deformation control are the design drivers.
The pack is built to a target total areal density: layer count × the per-layer value of the grade. Areal density on our datasheets is per layer — not a pack areal density, and not a finished vest weight.
Layer counts for a given threat level depend on the construction and any hybrid layers. We provide them under NDA, alongside full ballistic data.
The ULTAR™ SQ line is the soft ballistic family — roll material for flexible multi-layer packs. The current grade is SQ701, at 78 g/m² per layer; further SQ grades are in development. Layer counts for your threat level depend on the construction and any hybrid layers, and we provide them under NDA alongside full ballistic data.
Most soft armour packs are not single-material, and the best ones usually aren't. Combining SQ laminates with aramid or other ballistic material classes lets you trade penetration resistance against back-face deformation, and front-versus-back placement changes the result substantially at identical pack weight.
There is no general answer to which combination wins. It depends on your threat level, your weight budget, your back-face deformation limit and the standard you are certifying against.
We can suggest a starting point from the data available to us, including where the answer is to use less of our material rather than more — less than you would add by guessing, never less than the threat and a reasonable safety margin require. Where the design goes from there is yours.
Current grades are held in EU stock. Development and qualification quantities ship DAP to your site within max. 5 working days, subject to stock availability at the time of order confirmation. Minimum order one roll. Larger quantities confirmed on enquiry — usually days rather than weeks. One roll is enough for a development batch, a qualification run or a bridge order, without committing to a full production lot.
Send us your target threat level, pack weight budget and volume. We will come back with full ballistic data and layer counts under NDA, and where the data allows, an indication of a starting point for your pack. Samples are supplied for your own qualification testing — paid, unless otherwise agreed.
