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BALLISTIC BODY ARMOUR USING SHEAR THICKENING FLUIDS FOR ENHANCING STAB RESISTANCE
[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2016.
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Abstract
The University of ManchesterYan WangMaster of PhilosophyBallistic Body Armour Using Shear Thickening Fluid for Enhancing Stab ResistanceDecember 21st, 2016
Layman's Abstract
The improvement in stab resistance of ballistic fabric resulting from impregnating shear thickening fluid into ballistic fabrics has been proved by a large number of researchers. However, the performance of shear thickening fluid, particularly the critical shear rate, can be affected by various factors. This thesis studies three production factors including the size of dispersing particles, the particle weight fraction and the molecular weight of the dispersing medium. Besides these three factors, the temperature has also been studied as an environmental factor.It was found that the shear thickening fluid (STF) with smaller particle size promotes higher critical shear rate while the one with larger particle size leads to lower critical shear rate. For the STFs made from the same particle size and dispersing medium, the lower the particle weight fraction is, the higher the critical shear rate will be. The STF made with lower molecular weight dispersing medium results in higher critical shear rate, while the one with higher molecular weight dispersing medium results in lower critical shear rate. The increase of temperature causes the shear thickening phenomenon to occur latter while a decreased temperature leads to earlier occurrence of shear thickening. In addition, the viscosities of the STFs decline with the increase of temperature. Under the condition of room temperature (20˚C), the performance of STF-impregnated fabrics was tested by the drop tower test. The higher energy absorption can be achieved by the STFs with a larger particle size, higher particle weight fraction, and higher molecular weight of dispersing medium. It is notable that distinct improvement of the energy absorption is offered by fully impregnating the fabric.