Gelatine Backing Affects the Performance of Single-Layer Ballistic-Resistant Materials Against Blast Fragments

Abstract

Penetrating trauma by energized fragments is the most common injury from explosive devices, the main threat in the contemporary battlefield. Such devices produce projectiles dependent upon their design, including preformed fragments, casings, glass, or stones; these are subsequently energized to high velocities and cause serious injuries to the body. Current body armor focuses on the essential coverage, which is mainly the thoracic and abdominal area, and can be heavy and cumbersome. In addition, there may be coverage gaps that can benefit from the additional protection provided by one or more layers of lightweight ballistic fabrics. This study assessed the performance of single layers of commercially available ballistic protective fabrics such as Kevlar R , Twaron R , and Dyneema R , in both woven and knitted configurations. Experiments were carried out using a custom-built gas-gun system, with a 0.78-g cylindrical steel fragment simulating projectile (FSP) as the impactor, and ballistic gelatine as the backing material. FSP velocity at 50% risk of material perforation, gelatine penetration, and high-risk wounding to soft tissue, as well as the depth of penetration (DoP) against impact velocity and the normalized energy absorption were used as metrics to rank the performance of the materials tested. Additional tests were performed to investigate the effect of not including a soft-tissue simulant backing material on the performance of the fabrics. The results show that a thin layer of ballistic material may offer meaningful protection against the penetration of this FSP. Additionally, it is essential to ensure a biofidelic boundary condition as the protective efficacy of fabrics was markedly altered by a gelatine backing.

Preparation and Impact Resistance Properties of Hybrid Silicone-Ceramics Composites

“…Those plates were impacted by the cylindrical FSP fragments with 6 mm long, 5 mm in diameter, and a weight of 1.1 g. The ballistic limit V50 for the single plate was equal to 276 m/s and for the double plate about 388 m/s.Much lower V50 ballistic limits were obtained for ballistic materials such as Kevlar ® (DuPont, Wilmington, United States) and Twaron ® aramids and Dyneema ® HPPE (DSM, Heerlen, Netherlands), which were tested in a single-layer configuration. Impact velocity of carbon steel cylinder FSP fragment with 4.5 mm diameter and 0.78 g weight at 50% probability of perforation (V50) through the fabric ranged from about 120 to 250 m/s depending on the type of used material [69]. Another type of hard body armor obtained on the basis of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC) laminates was investigated by Hsieh and co-workers [70].…”

Multi-Criterial Analysis Tool to Design a Hybrid Ballistic Plate

“…Ballistic textiles are one of the main groups of materials, used widely in ballistic protection systems. Nowadays, a lot of research has described the wide range of ballistic properties (such as the V50 parameter or backing material deformation [ 11 , 12 ]) for various materials, to help define the best components that could be used for maximizing the ballistic performance of various protection systems. While developing ballistic products, various non-ballistic materials are used to help provide an adequate level of protection, and to improve its mechanical properties.…”