Hydrolytic stability of polybenzobisoxazole and polyterephthalamide body armor.

Published

May 6, 2010

Author(s)

Amanda L. Forster, Guillaume Messin, Kirk D. Rice, Pierre Pintus, Joannie W. Chin, Sylvain H. Petit

Abstract

Previous work conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate the field failures of soft body armor containing the material poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole), or PBO, revealed that this material was susceptible to hydrolysis, and a mechanism of this hydrolysis was proposed. In this work, viscometric estimations of the molecular weight of artificially degraded PBO are used to support the proposed mechanism of PBO hydrolysis. Results are compared with another artificially degraded material commonly used in soft body armor, poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) or PPTA. Confocal microscopy, mechanical properties measurements, and molecular spectroscopy were used to further investigate the degradation of both PBO and PPTA.

Citation

Polymer Degradation and Stability

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

body armor, artificial degradation, viscometry, molecular weight, hydrolysis, poly(p-phenylene-2, 6-benzobisoxazole), poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide)

Citation

Forster, A. , Messin, G. , Rice, K. , Pintus, P. , Chin, J. and Petit, S. (2010), Hydrolytic stability of polybenzobisoxazole and polyterephthalamide body armor., Polymer Degradation and Stability (Accessed October 11, 2025)