Investigation of the effect of a dilatant material on ballistic strength of aramid fabric used as body armour suit

Scoured (SC) and water repellent treated (WRT) types of Twaron (R) CT 709 ballistic fabrics have a variety of applications in soft body armour. In this study, ballistic tests were performed on armour systems prepared by impregnating certain proportions of poly (borodimethylsiloxane) -PBDMS- polymer to aforementioned fabrics. The friction effect of PBDMS between the yarns was investigated before the ballistic tests. The correlation between PBDMS ratio and ballistic performance was also investigated. It was observed that as the ratio of PBDMS impregnated to the scoured type fabrics increases, the friction force between the yarns and the ballistic strength increases up to 14.7% accordingly. On the other hand, PBDMS could not be impregnated homogeneously due to the water repellent property of WRT type fabrics and this limits the ballistic advantage.