A Conceptual Design of an SMP Reinforced Knitted Spacer Structure for Ballistic Defense

Abstract

A ballistic impact is a potential threat faced by military personnel in a battle-field, which includes fragmented munitions from explosive material. A wide array of material including woven structures, laminated structures and non-woven structures have been developed for protection against potential impacts. However, the kinetic energy of the bullet at the point of impact causes heat dissipation, which is an existing problem at hand when developing reinforcement material. Therefore, this research is focused on developing a conceptual model and design for a shape memory polymer reinforced knitted spacer structure, where the impact energy is to be absorbed by the polymeric yarn, when the thermal energy raises the temperature of the SMP above its glass transition temperature. A theoretical model has been developed to establish the fabric parameters of the structure to facilitate the purpose while, a comprehensive design methodology, including determining the SMPhas been introduced for the design of the ballistic protection structure. Additionally, a MATLAB simulation was conducted to model the relationship between the dissipated heat energy and the required fabric pa-rameters.