Ballistic Testing of Composites
The research team from the Military Institute of Engineering in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), led by Prof. Sergio N. Monteiro, published in collaboration with Dr. Drelich a review entitled “Natural Fibers Reinforced Polymer Composites Applied in Ballistic Multilayered Armor for Personal Protection – an Overview.” The review was published in a book entitled Green Materials Engineering by TMS and Springer.
Abstract: Natural fibers have been investigated as composites reinforcement for technological applications. Several natural fiber composites were found to present similar ballistic performance as synthetic materials, such as KevlarTM in multilayered systems (MASs) against high-impact energy projectiles. MASs with a front ceramic followed by natural fibers, natural fabrics or natural non-woven mat such as curaua, jute, sisal, ramie, coir, piassava, fique, and sugarcane bagasse reinforcing polymer matrix composites attend the standards for personal ballistic protection against the threat of 7.62 mm ammunition. These natural fibers or fabrics or non-woven mats composites, as second MAS layer, succeed to capture the cloud of fragments resulting from the projectile impact on the ceramic layer with comparable ballistic efficiency as conventional synthetic aramid fiber composites with same thickness. In this work, the development of research dedicated to these natural fiber-based composites in MASs are overviewed and their advantages over synthetic materials are emphasized, especially the much lower cost.
