An Apparatus For Folding Yarns And Woven Fabrics Of Ballistic Fibers

Published

June 4, 2007

Author(s)

Walter G. McDonough, Jae Hyun Kim, Nolan J. Brandenburg, William R. Blair, Gale A. Holmes

Abstract

Folding of ballistic fibers comprising soft body armor may be a factor in the performance deterioration that has been observed in used soft body armor. To quantify the impact of this mechanism, an apparatus was designed and built to simulate the folding that may occur to the ballistic fibers while the vest is in use. The device systematically folds woven fabric and yarns of ballistic fibers to assess the impact of folding on ballistic fiber properties. Initial test results indicate that the device does repeatedly fold a piece of woven fabric at the same location. After cycling a piece of woven poly(benzoxazole) (PBO) fabric for 5,500 cycles, a 14 % reduction in the ultimate tensile strength and strain to failure of the PBO fibers was observed. Research is continuing to optimize the testing procedure. It is anticipated that this device will be a useful tool in understanding how ballistic fibers degrade.

Conference Dates

June 3-7, 2007

Conference Location

Baltimore , MD

Conference Title

Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineeers

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Aging, Service Life

Citation

McDonough, W. , , J. , Brandenburg, N. , Blair, W. and Holmes, G. (2007), An Apparatus For Folding Yarns And Woven Fabrics Of Ballistic Fibers, Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineeers, Baltimore , MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=854047 (Accessed October 13, 2025)