Studies on the stab resistance and ergonomic comfort behaviour of multilayer STF-treated tri-component woven fabric and HPPE laminate composite material

Abstract

Research related to stab-resistant armour is focused on developing a low-weight flexible stab-resistant armour. Various materials and methods have been used to reduce the overall bulk but managing the flexibility and bulk with improved stab resistance is still a challenge for the researchers. In this study, flexible stab-resistant material for stab-resistant personal protective equipments (PPEs) has been developed by using shear thickening fluid (STF) treated fabric made of multicomponent yarns and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) laminate composite. The stab resistance and comfort behaviour like flexural rigidity and areal density were investigated with respect to number of layers and different STF concentrations according to VPAM KDIW-2004 and respective standards for flexural rigidity. Laminate-Woven hybrid composite was developed to reduce the bulk of the panel while maintaining the required protection level.

Keywords:

• Stab resistance
• fabric composite
• shear thickening fluid
• UHMWPE laminate
• fibre reinforced polymer

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to Dr Nandan Kumar (MD, HPT Pvt. Ltd.) for his guidance and support. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Vinay Midha (Professor, NIT Jalandhar), my research supervisor for his patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar (Punjab, India) and funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), India. The fabric samples were provided by High Performance Textiles Pvt. Ltd., Panipat (Haryana, India).