LOW VELOCITY BALLISTIC PROPERTIES OF SHEAR THICKENING FLUID (STF)-FABRIC COMPOSITES

摘要

Previous studies have shown that the ballistic and stab properties of fabrics can be improved through the addition of shear thickening fluids (STFs). In this paper, ballistic testing is performed on unbacked STF-Kevlar composites using hard spherical projectiles at low velocities, for combined fixed-free boundary conditions and finite fabric dimensions. In general, the addition of STF causes a dramatic increase in the V_(50) performance of the fabric. This increase in ballistic performance is related to increases in yarn pull-out resistance, which is also measured and reported. Additional experiments on fabrics impregnated with Newtonian fluids and non-discontinuously shear thickening fluids show that full, discontinuous shear thickening properties are most effective for improving fabric properties.