DuPont recently released a new type of Para-aramid fiber Kevlar XP. With new weaving and coating technologies, Kevlar XP has better ballistic protection and is more comfortable as body-armor than ever before.

Both DuPont and independent tests show that Kevlar XP consistently stops bullets within the first three layers of a vest designed with a total of eleven layers, and the remaining layers absorb the impact of the bullet, resulting in fewer traumas to the vest wearer. As body-armor against a 44 Magnum bullet, Kevlar XP provides a 15% reduction in bullet impact and at least a 10% lighter weight vest design. According to DuPont, a typical lightweight material commercially available now would have 20 to 40 layers of material, with a minimum of nine layers needed to stop the bullet.

DuPont will invest over $500 million to expand global production of Kevlar by more than 25 % by 2010. In response, DSM of the Netherlands will invest $450 million to expand the facility capacity for Dyneema, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber, by 2011.