Determination of the penetration depth of the blade in stab protection measurements according to VPAM

The stab protection effect of a textile can be examined according to different standards or test instructions. In the VPAM test instruction “Stich- und Schlagschutz” (“stab and impact protection”), e.g., which is widely used in German-speaking countries, the textile is placed upon a box filled with plasticine, in which the penetration depth of a defined blade is measured after the test. Since the evaluation of this test has shown to be error-prone, an alternative evaluation method is suggested in this article.