Enhancement of the quasi-static stab resistance of Kevlar fabrics impregnated with shear thickening fluid

Abstract

Stronger and lighter stab resistance materials are always among the relentless pursuits of scientists and engineers. This study presents a featured perspective on investigating the influence of distribution and quantity of shear thickening fluid (STF) on the stab resistance performance and weight of STF/Kevlar (SK) fabrics. A series of tests confirmed that the peak stab resistance force was 515.48 N (±18.62) because of the uniform distribution of SiO2 nanoparticles in Kevlar fabrics, behaving 2.07 fold than that of the neat Kevlar (NK) fabrics, and the weight gain rate was only 17.1% (±0.56) under the optimal technology condition, almost displaying the theoretical values. Moreover, the added STF had a negligible influence on flexibility of NK fabric. The pull-out test demonstrated that the high inter-yarn friction of SK fabric could strengthen the resistance relative motion of yarns so that more surrounding yarns participated in the impact energy dissipation and maximized the role of high-performance fabric Kevlar.

Keywords

• Shear thickening fluid
• Stab resistance force
• Inter-yarn friction
• Energy dissipation mechanism
• Empirical regression model