[1.0.2.6] Is Armor supposed to regen faster than shields?

[Arthanis]

One odd thing I've noticed in my recent playthroughs is that even Tier 0 armor will often regenerate during combat faster than even significantly higher tier shields.
It seems to do so only as long as an armor plate has more than 0 armor, at which point it seems to stop regenerating at that high speed.
Is that intended working as intended ? Because it certainly strikes me ass odd from a realism stand point.