A new material developed by Dutch scientists has made its way into soft body armor. Dyneema SB61 is a fiber made from an extremely high grade of the common plastic polyethylene.
Laundry baskets, grocery bags, and milk jugs are all made from polyethylene. It is the simplest of the plastics. Polyethylene molecules are long chains that can be branched or straight. The length and straightness of the chains and the purity of the plastic determines how strong it is. High grade polyethylene has been used to make bulletproof vests for years, but this new material is stronger pound for pound than everything else on the market.

The original Dynema material was developed at DSM in 1979. Five years ago, Jean Beugels, Koos Mencke, and Réné Steeman were given an award by the American Chemical Society for developing the world’s strongest synthetic fiber. That material, a newer grade of Dyneema, was put to use in bulletproof armor long before they won the award. Their company, DSM, decided that the strongest fiber was not good enough. Making good on a vow to never stop improving their product line, the company recently released SB61, the newest grade of the super-tough material that is vastly better at stopping bullets.

Since police officers are encouraged to wear a bulletproof vest under their uniform all day, they must be comfortable. For that reason, armor manufacturers have tried many different materials in an attempt to make body armor that is as light and flexible as possible. Several years ago, the thinnest and lightest bulletproof vests on the market were made from a material called Zylon. As it turned out, the high performance fabric was unstable when moist and would deteriorate gradually with exposure to sweat and humidity. This led to a massive recall of all vests containing the flawed material. Zylon can be destroyed by a chemical reaction called hydrolysis, which literally means "cut by water". Dyneema is not vulnerable to moisture damage because it has a particularly sturdy chemical backbone.

American Body Armor is the first company to begin using Dynema SB61 in armor. It is integrated into their TORQ line of vests, which are meant to be concealed beneath a layer of clothing. The thinnest mode of TORQ vest is only 5mm thick and can stop extremely fast bullets.