During routine field use of soft body armor, the ballistic panels become saturated with perspiration. This condition motivates the user to clean and/or deodorize the armor, and anecdotal evidence is given for various methods used to accomplish this. Although the cleaning/deodorization is usually performed on the armor liners and coverings, there is concern that the chemicals could seep into the ballistic panels and damage the fibers. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of artificial perspiration cleaning chemicals on the mechanical and chemical properties of aramid, poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) and ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene yarns after controlled cycles of exposure to artificial perspiration and dilute solutions of common cleaning chemicals. It was observed that the effect of the artificial perspiration on the properties of all of the materials tested was the same as that of water alone. Of all of the cleaning chemicals, used, only chlorine bleach had a detrimental effect on the yarn properties. All other cleaning chemicals had the same effect as water alone. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 567-584, 2009