Textile ballistic shields with embroidered structure

Abstract

Textile ballistic shields are the basis of protection against bullets and fragments with low kinetic energy. They are usually made of para-aramid fabrics or UD sheets of HPPE. The aim of the research presented in this article was to obtain ballistic packages made of embroidered structures and to compare their ballistic properties with those of woven structures, in terms of deformation of the standardised ballistic substrate after impact with a 9 mm bullet at a velocity of 380±3 m/s. The embroidered structures were made by embroidering two sets of para-aramid threads at an angle of 90°. As with the woven structures, the use of para-aramid fabric made of the same yarn and with a surface weight comparable to that of an embroidered structure, was adopted. The ballistic packages consisted of 26 layers in five variants, taking into account the hybrid arrangement of woven and embroidered layers. Ballistic tests have shown that the best ballistic properties have hybrid packages made by folding 13 woven and then 13 embroidered layers, where the maximum deformation of the plasticine substrate was below 23 mm. The conducted research confirmed that embroidered structures can significantly improve the ballistic properties of textile packages when appropriately combined with woven structures.