Advanced Fibrous Composite Materials for Ballistic Protection

Advanced Fibrous Composite Materials for Ballistic Protection, Second Edition provides the latest information on ballistic protection, a topic that remains an important issue in modern times due to ever increasing threats coming from regional conflicts, terrorism, and anti-social behavior. The basic requirements for ballistic protection equipment are, first and foremost, to prevent the projectile from perforating the armor, and to reduce blunt trauma to the human body caused by ballistic impact. The equipment also needs to be thermal and provide moisture comfort, and lightweight and flexible to guarantee the wearer’s mobility.

The main aim of this fully updated edition is to present some of the most recent research developments in the design and engineering of woven fabrics and their use as layering materials to form composite structures for ballistic personal protection. This book will be a valuable reference for materials scientists and textile technologists, ballistic scientists, manufacturers, engineers, and all those working in ballistics technology.

• Includes high velocity impact studies on STF impregnated ballistic panels
• Covers engineering and ballistic performance analysis of military and police helmets reinforced by single piece fabrics
• Provides the latest developments in Aramid and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers
• Presents additional information on the analysis of reinforcement structure (ply structure – woven and UD, and panel structure – 2D, 3D, angle-arranged plies) on ballistic performance
• Highlights approaches of use of materials, inter-fiber friction, quasi-isotropic panel formation, and hybrid panel engineering

Dr Xiaogang Chen obtained his PhD in Textile Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1991. He is currently a reader in technical textiles in the School of Materials, The University of Manchester. In the field of modelling, he worked on mathematical models leading to the creation of CAD software for 2D and 3D woven fabrics. He also researched into geometric and mechanical modelling of textiles for engineering technical textiles. He has applied his modelling approach into the prediction of textile behaviour in energy absorption, fluid filtration, textile composites and ballistic protection.

Adrian P. Mouritz is Professor of Aerospace Materials at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.

Suresh Advani is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Director of the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, USA.

Dr. Chun Wang is a Principal Research Scientist and the Head of Composite and Low-Observable Structures in the Air Vehicles Division, DSTO, Australia. He has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield, UK. Prior to joining DSTO in 1995, he held academic positions at the University of Sheffield (UK), the University of Sydney (Australia) and Deakin University (Australia). His main research expertises are in the areas of fatigue and fracture mechanics, composite structures, bonded structural repairs, and scattering of acoustic and electromagnetic waves. He has published over eighty journal articles and book chapters, and over eighty conference papers.