Enhancing the effectiveness of laminated kevlar fiber structures against sharp impact

Abstract

The fabric laminated structure shows great potential in protective clothing, particularly in understanding its strength and performance under sharp impacts. This study investigated the effect of laminated structures on the protective performance of Kevlar fabric with varying thicknesses, focusing on tensile and impact resistance. Tensile and impact properties were analyzed by fabricating multi-layered structures with different thicknesses. The tensile performance of the multilayer structure showed a 15-fold increase in ultimate tensile strength and a 220-fold increase in elastic modulus compared to the single-layer fabric. Furthermore, the finite element model of the tensile properties closely matched the experimental results. In addition, sharp impact tests with varying thicknesses demonstrated that thicker structures had smaller damage areas than thinner layers, as confirmed by numerical modeling. The laminated structure could withstand 560 % more impact force and absorb 557 % more energy under sharp impact than thinner layers. Therefore, the enhanced performance of the laminated structure makes it a promising replacement for hard and damage-prone fabric layers in protective applications.