A new experimental setup to characterize the dynamic mechanical behaviour of ballistic yarns
Résumé
Fabrics have been widely used as part of ballistic protections since the 1970s and the development of new ballistic solutions made from fabrics need numerical simulations, in order to predict the performance of the ballistic protection. The performances and the induced mechanisms in ballistic fabrics during an impact depend on the weaving parameters and also on the inner parameters of the yarns used inside these structures. Thus, knowing the dynamic behaviour of yarn is essential to determine the ballistic behaviour of fabrics during an impact.
Two major experimental devices exist and are used to test ballistic yarns in a dynamic uniaxial tension. The first one corresponds to the Split Hopkinson Tensile Bars device, which is commonly used to characterize the mechanical properties of materials in uniaxial tension and under high loading. The second one is the transversal impact device. The real conditions of ballistic impact can be realized with this device.
Then, this paper deals with a new experimental setup developed in our laboratory and called the ‘tensile impact test for yarn’ (TITY) device. With this device, specific absorbed energy measurements of para-aramid yarns (336 Tex, Twaron™, 1000 filaments) have been carried out and revealed that static and dynamic properties of para-aramid are different.