Citation

Karahan M, Kus A, Eren R. Int. J. Impact Eng. 2008; 35(6): 499-510.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2007.04.003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Woven and nonwoven fabrics produced from high-tenacity fibres are used in ballistic protection due to their high energy absorption ability and low tenacity/weight ratio. Ballistic behaviour of textile fibres and fabrics has been investigated experimentally and ballistic behaviour of textile fabric systems has been estimated by using mathematical models [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] and [7]. As bullet–fabric interaction is a very complex phenomenon, the estimation of ballistic behaviour of fabrics from fibre properties has not been made possible especially when the bullet dimensions are small. Basically, it is known that bullet mass and speed determine its kinetic energy and that higher kinetic energy causes more deformation. When a woven fabric is subjected to ballistic impact, it is deformed in vertical and horizontal directions. Deformation formed on the fabric spreads outwards when the bullet speed remains within the limits. As the bullet speed exceeds a certain limit, the bullet passes through the fabric. Fabric layers have a limited energy absorption capacity. It is necessary to develop different designs to stop the bullet if the bullet kinetic energy exceeds fabric energy absorption limits.

This paper presents an investigation regarding the ballistic performance of protection panels of different fabric ply numbers used in body armours. Twaron CT 710 type fabric layers of differing numbers are joined by using three stitch types to form the panels and then the panels are subjected to ballistic tests according to NIJ standards. Ballistic performance of the panels is determined by measuring trauma depth and trauma diameter. The energy absorbed by the fabric layers and the energy transmitted to the back of the fabric layers are determined from the trauma depth and trauma diameter values using a different approach. It is shown that the fabric ply number and stitching type have significant effects on ballistic properties and the effect of conditioning is limited.