Experimental Study of Soft Ballistic Packages with Embroidered Structures Fabricated by Using the Tailored Fiber Placement Technique

Textile ballistic shields are the basis of protection against bullets and fragments with low kinetic energy. They are usually made of para-aramid fabrics or unidirectional structure (UD) sheets of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The aim of the research presented in the article was to obtain ballistic packages made of embroidered structures and to compare their ballistic properties with those of woven structures in terms of deformation of the standardized ballistic substrate after impact with a 9 mm bullet at a velocity of 380 ± 3 m/s. Using the tailored fiber placement method, embroidered structures were fabricated by embroidering two sets of para-aramid threads at an angle of 90°. As the woven structures, the use of para-aramid fabric made of the same yarn and with a surface weight comparable to that of embroidered structures was adopted. Ballistic packages consisted of 26 layers in five variants, also taking into account the hybrid arrangement of woven and embroidered layers. Ballistic tests have shown that the best ballistic properties have hybrid packages made by folding 13 woven and then 13 embroidered layers, where the maximum deformation of the plasticine substrate is below 23 mm. The conducted research confirmed that embroidered structures in appropriate combination with woven structures can significantly improve the ballistic properties of textile packages.