The Journal of The Textile Institute

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Soft body armour development by silica particle

based shear thickening fluid coated p-aramid
fabrics

Abhijit Majumdar, Animesh Laha, Debarati Bhattacharjee, Ipsita Biswas &

Sanjeev Verma

To cite this article: Abhijit Majumdar, Animesh Laha, Debarati Bhattacharjee, Ipsita
Biswas & Sanjeev Verma (2019): Soft body armour development by silica particle based
shear thickening fluid coated p-aramid fabrics, The Journal of The Textile Institute, DOI:
10.1080/00405000.2019.1602896

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2019.1602896

Published online: 20 Apr 2019.

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THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2019.1602896

Soft body armour development by silica particle based shear thickening fluid
coated p-aramid fabrics
Abhijit Majumdara, Animesh Lahaa, Debarati Bhattacharjeeb, Ipsita Biswasb and Sanjeev Vermab
a
Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India; bTerminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, Ballistics Test
Facility, Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Soft body armour panels using p-aramid (Technora) fabrics with three different levels of thread den- Received 31 January 2018
sities were developed in this research. Shear thickening fluid (STF) was synthesized using silica nano- Accepted 22 March 2019
particle (100 nm) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Fabrics were coated with 60% (w/w) STF to improve
KEYWORDS
their resistance against low-velocity bullets (165 m s
1). For neat fabrics, all the bullets fired from 0.3800
Aramid; ballistic evaluation;
calibre revolver pierced the multilayer fabric panel. However, impact energy absorption increased with body armour; composite
the increase in thread density in fabric. After coating with shear thickening fluid, panels having four materials; fibre technology;
layers of fabric stopped all the bullets fired. It was possible to reduce the weight of panel by 23% after shear thickening fluid (stf)
the STF treatment whilst ensuring bullet stoppage.

1. Introduction
Multiple layers of high-performance fabrics are used to pre-
pare soft body armours (Srivastava, Majumdar, & Butola,
2012). Researchers working in the area of armour materials
are relentlessly trying to reduce the weight of armour with-
out compromising with safety of the wearer. Use of high-
performance fibres like aramid (Kevlar, Technora, Twaron,
etc.) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene or
UHMWPE (Dyneema, Spectra, etc.) and selection of proper
fabric structure (weave and thread density) are essential for
this (Bajaj and Sriram, 1997; Sockalingam, Chowdhury,
Gillespie, & Keefe, 2017). Researchers have coated the fabric
with natural rubber (Ahmad, Ahmad, Salleh, & Samsuri,
2008; Hassim, Ahmad, Ahmad, Samsuri, & Yahya, 2012)
and shear thickening fluid (STF) (Hassan, Rangari, &
Jeelani, 2010; Kang, Kim, & Hong, 2012; Wagner & Brady,
2009) to enhance the energy absorption during impact.
Shear thickening fluid is a non-Newtonian fluid consisting
of a dispersed phase like silica nano-particles and a disper-
sion medium like polyethylene glycol (PEG) (Lee &
Wagner, 2006; Srivastava, Majumdar, & Butola, 2011).
Numerous studies have been conducted to select the suit-
able weave for ballistic applications. Some of them con-
cluded that weaves like matt and satin, having longer float
of yarns, are suitable for ballistic applications (Chitrangad,
2000; Chu & Chen, 2010; Tapie, Shim, & Guo, 2015). On
the other hand, Shimek and Fahrenthold (2012) concluded
that satin and plain weaves are better for ballistic applica-
tions. Park, Kim, Baluch, and Kim (2014) reported that five
layers of STF coated Kevlar fabric have same energy absorp-
tion capacity as the eight layers of neat Kevlar. Laha and
Majumdar (2016) found that STF coated plain woven fabric
with thread density of 30  30 per inch yielded the highest
impact resistance during low-velocity (6 m s
1) drop tower
impact testing. However, there is no reported research
which dwells on the synergistic effect of woven fabric struc-
ture and STF reinforcement for the development of soft
body armour materials.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Plain woven fabrics with three different thread densities
(25  25, 30  30 and 35  35 per inch) were manufactured
using Technora yarn of 720 denier. The areal densities of
these fabrics were 160, 187 and 228 g m
2, respectively.
Colloidal silica having 100 nm diameter was obtained in
water suspensions (40% w/w). STF (60% w/w) was synthe-
sized using silica and PEG of 200 molecular weight (Mw).
Measured amount of silica and PEG were mixed and kept
in a sonication bath for 6 h to synthesis STF. To reduce the
viscosity and ensure uniform penetration of STF into
the fabric, the former was diluted using ethanol in 4:1
(v/v) ratio.
STF coating was done using Mathis Lab Padder as shown
in Figure 1. STF was kept at the nip of two rubber coated
rollers. Fabric was passed through the nip of the rollers. A
constant nip pressure of 2 bar was maintained so that the
entire width of the fabric is coated with STF. STF coated
fabrics were dried for 40 min in hot air oven to evaporate
ethanol. The panels made up of three and four layers of fab-
ric were stitched together in 2  2 inch diamond pattern.

CONTACT Abhijit Majumdar majumdar@textile.iitd.ac.in Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 110 016, India.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/tjti.
ß 2019 The Textile Institute
2 A. MAJUMDAR ET AL.

2.2. Testing 3.2. Rheological study of STF

Scanning electron micrographs of silica particles and STF Figure 4 presents the relationship between shear rate and
coated fabrics were taken using scanning electron micro- viscosity of STF at different temperature ranging from 0 to
scope (SEM, ZEISS EVO 50). Rheological characterization 30  C. Initially viscosity reduces with the increase in shear
of STF was carried out using Anton Parr MCR 051stress rate implying shear thinning. However, viscosity increases
controlled rheometer having parallel plate geometry. During abruptly when the shear rate crosses the critical shear rate.
the measurement, temperature was varied from 0 to 30  C The critical shear rate and peak viscosity are 28.1, 47.1, 123
and shear rate was varied from 1 to 1000 s
1. and 207 s
1 and 63.9, 29.9, 9.7 and 6.3 Pa s at 0, 10, 20 and
Low-velocity ballistic testing of all the fabric panels was
carried out using a 0.3800 calibre revolver . The average
impact velocity of the bullets was 165 (±10) m s
1 . The
ballistic test set-up is shown in Figure 2. The pre and
post impact velocities of the bullet were determined by
chronograph 1 and 2, respectively. The impact energy
absorbed by a fabric panel was calculated from the differ-
ence in kinetic energies of the bullet before and after the
impact. Post impact velocity was not recorded by chrono-
graph 2 in case the bullet was stopped by the fabric panel.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Surface morphology
Figure 3a shows the scanning electron micrographs of silica
particles which are spherical in shape. The diameter of
silica particle is around 100 nm. Figure 3b depicts a filament
of Technora yarn after being coated with STF. It is visible
that the silica particles are distributed in clusters over
the filament. Figure 1. Coating of fabrics with STF.

Figure 2. Ballistic testing set-up.

Figure 3. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) Silica particles and (b) STF coated Technora filament.

30  C, respectively. So, critical shear rate increases and peak
viscosity reduces with the increase in temperature.
3.3. Ballistic evaluation
Table 1 shows the ballistic evaluation results of neat and
STF coated fabric panels. First set of ballistic evaluation was
carried out on neat and STF coated fabric panels made up
of three layers of plain woven fabric having thread density
of 30  30 per inch. Five bullets were fired on each panel.
The energy of the impacting bullet was 156 J. Energy
absorbed by the fabric panel was calculated in case of bullet
penetration. Otherwise, a bullet stop was recorded. The
panel having three neat fabric layers absorbed 35.1 J energy.
All the five bullets pierced through the panel. After STF
treatment energy absorption increased by 42.2% (from 35.1
to 49.9 J). Moreover, this panel was able to stop three out of
five bullets fired on it. Thus the panel made up of three
layers of STF coated fabric was not capable of ensuring
complete ballistic protection.
For the next set of trials, plain woven fabrics having
three different thread densities (25  25, 30  30 and
35  35 per inch) were used and four layers of fabric were
stitched together to prepare the panel. Areal density of one
layer of fabric was 160, 187 and 228 g m
2, respectively. The
panel made from fabric having thread density of 25  25 per
inch absorbed the lowest amount of energy (33.5 J). Energy
absorption increased concomitantly with the increase in
thread density in fabric. As thread density increases, fabric
becomes firmer due to more number of crossover points
between two sets of yarns i.e. warp and weft. Besides, more
number of yarns come into the contact with the bullet and
thus they enhance the energy absorption during impact.
Increase in thread density from 25  25 per inch to 30  30
Figure 4. Rheological behaviour of 60% (w/w) STF.
Table 1. Low-velocity ballistic test results.
Panel description Areal density/layer (g m
2) Energy absorbed (J)
Three layer (30  30) 187
Four layer (25  25) 160
Four layer (30  30) 187
Four layer (35  35) 228
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 3
per inch increased the energy absorption by around 71%
(from 33.5 to 57.4 J) whereas increase in weight of the panel
was around 17% (from 160 to 187 g m
2). Upon further
increase in thread density to 35  35 per inch, energy
absorption risen by around 20% (from 57.4 to 69 J) whereas
increase in weight of the panel was around 22% (from 187
to 228 g m
2). As the fabric with thread density of 30  30
per inch is already having very firm structure, further
increase in thread density does not enhance the energy
absorption significantly. Though, energy absorption was
increasing with the thread density, none of the neat fabric
panels was able to stop even a single bullet (Table 1). After
STF coating, all the three panels, irrespective of the fabric
thread density, were able to stop all the bullets (five out of
five). This is indicated by ‘NP’ or ‘no perforation’ in Figure
5b. Therefore, STF coated fabric panels were able to absorb
the entire energy of the impacting bullets. Although the
neat fabric panel with thread density of 35  35 per inch
absorbed the highest energy (69 J), it was not good enough
to stop the bullets. After STF treatment, synergistic effect of
fabric structure and shear thickening ensured eventual stop-
page of bullets. It is important to note here that STF treat-
ment increased the mass of the fabric by around 10%.
Therefore, panels prepared with STF coated fabrics having
thread density of 25  25 per inch was 23% lighter in weight
as compared to panels prepared with neat fabrics having
thread density of 35  35 per inch. More importantly, the
former was able to stop all the bullets.
4. Conclusions
Ballistic evaluation of plain woven aramid fabrics with three
different thread densities have been carried out. Panel made
up of three layers of neat fabric having 30  30 per inch
thread density was unable to stop bullet (165 m s
1). After
Figure 5. (a) Bullet and (b) STF coated fabric panel.
Neat fabric STF coated fabric
No of bullet No. of bullet
stopped/total shots Energy absorbed (J) stopped/total shots
35.1 0/5 49.9 3/5
33.5 0/5 Not recorded 5/5
57.4 0/5 Not recorded 5/5
69.0 0/5 Not recorded 5/5
4 A. MAJUMDAR ET AL.
silica particle based STF treatment, significant increase in
impact energy absorption was observed. However, some of
the bullets pierced through the fabric panel implying the
incapability of this structure to assure complete protection
against bullet.
For panels having four layers of neat fabrics, impact
energy absorption increased with the increase in thread
density. The panel made from fabric having thread density
of 35  35 per inch absorbed the maximum energy though
it failed to stop any bullet. All the panels having four layers
of STF coated fabric were able to stop the bullets. It was
possible to reduce the panel weight by 23%, whilst ensuring
bullet stoppage, by utilizing the synergistic effect of fabric
structure and STF reinforcement.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory
(TBRL), Chandigarh, India, for the financial support and technical
assistance in this research work (Grant no: TBRL/CARS/61/2014).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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