Interplay of fabric structure and shear thickening fluid impregnation in moderating the impact response of high-performance woven fabrics

Abstract

The beneficial effect of STF impregnation in enhancing the impact resistance of high-performance fabrics has been extensively reported in the literature. However, this research work reports that fabric structure has a decisive role in moderating the effectiveness of STF impregnation in terms of impact energy absorption. Plain woven fabrics having sett varying from 25 × 25 inch−1 to 55 × 55 inch−1 were impregnated with STF at two different padding pressures to obtain different add-ons. The impact energy absorption by STF impregnated loosely woven fabrics was found to be higher than that of their neat counterparts for both levels of add-on, while opposite trend was observed in case of tightly woven fabrics. Further, comparison of tightly woven plain, 2/2 twill, 3/1 twill and 2 × 2 matt fabrics revealed beneficial effect of STF impregnation, except for the plain woven fabric, establishing that there exists a fabric structure-STF impregnation interplay that tunes the impact resistance of woven fabrics.