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Light shear thickening fluid (STF)/Kevlar composites with improved ballistic impact strength

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Abstract

Shear thickening fluids (STFs) have been developed for various applications such as body armor, viscoelastic dampers, and sports equipment. In this paper, the preparation and rheological properties of an STF are discussed. STF/Kevlar composites were made using ethanol as the cosolvent. The physical properties of the composites were determined by ballistic penetration, drop-tower, and yarn pull-out tests. The ballistic penetration was tested at a projectile velocity of 180 m/s. The ballistic penetration tests showed that adding the STF could obviously increase the energy dissipation. In addition, the weight of the composites may be reduced by 37% while their ballistic resistance is maintained. The knife drop-tower tests showed that adding the STF may improve the energy absorption by 20%. The yarn pull-out test demonstrated that the maximum pull-out force of the STF/Kevlar composites is 3.17 times that of neat Kevlar. The enhancements in the physical properties were apparently associated with the addition of the STF.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by contract numbers NSC-101-2623-E-027-003-D and NSC-102-2623-E-027-002-D from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Shu-Kai Yeh & Yao-Chun Chen

  2. High Speed 3D Printing Research Center, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, 10608

    Shu-Kai Yeh

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Jhih-Jhang Lin, Hong-Yi Zhuang, Hsiao-Ching Chang & Jie-Yu Zheng

  4. Department of Composite Materials & Electric Energy Section, Materials & Electro-Optics Research Division, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology, Taoyuan City, Republic of China

    Ling-Yueh Yang

  5. Department of Textile Engineering, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Kuei-Chi Lee

  6. Department of Power Vehicle and Systems Engineering, National Defense University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yu-Liang Chen

  7. Department of Molecular Science and Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Syang-Peng Rwei

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  1. Shu-Kai Yeh
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Correspondence to Shu-Kai Yeh.

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Yeh, SK., Lin, JJ., Zhuang, HY. et al. Light shear thickening fluid (STF)/Kevlar composites with improved ballistic impact strength. J Polym Res 26, 155 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-019-1811-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-019-1811-8

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