Experimental and Numerical Study of Inter-yarn Friction Affecting Mechanism on Ballistic Performance of Twaron® Fabric

Most previous numerical investigations show that inter-yarn friction is one of the critical parameters to ballistic performance of woven fabrics under ballistic impact. However, the effects of inter-yarn friction on the ballistic performance of those fabrics are not approved by empirical work. There are two premises to empirically prove the numerical analyses, where the fabric structure and yarn mechanical properties and the weight are almost kept. Our previous investigation show that TiO2/ZnO composites on the yarn surface by sol-gel treatment can keep yarn mechanical properties and weight unaffected but significantly increase the inter-yarn friction. In this way, TiO2/ZnO composites generated by sol-gel treatment were coated to the ballistic fabrics through dip-pad-dry process to vary the inter-yarn friction. Ballistic perforation tests were conducted to those fabrics under impact velocity of 460-500 m/s with one-gram weight cylindrical projectile and the numerical simulation work were also carried out. Through comparisons between ballistic impact tests and numerical results, it shows that higher inter-yarn friction is better for energy absorption, especially at more fabric layers. Both numerical analysis and experimental work have approved that higher inter-yarn friction would lead to more large areas engaged in energy absorption and shear broken become more pronounced.