Development of Lightweight Cricket Pads Using Knitted Flexible Thermoplastic Composites with Improved Impact Protection

Cricket is one of the most popular global sports, and cricket pads are important personal protective gear used for shock absorption and peak deceleration of the impact forces of the cricket ball for both batsmen and wicket keepers. The materials selection of the padding should be considered according to requirements. In the present study, flexible composites were manufactured using knitted unidirectional thermoplastic composite prepregs. Prepregs were fabricated using thermoplastic yarns, e.g., High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), and Low Melting Polyester (LMPE). Para-aramid (Kevlar) and Flax yarns were used as inlay. The structures were stacked in three and five layers, and hot compression was used to convert thermoplastic yarn into matrix. A total of twelve samples were prepared, and their mechanical properties were evaluated. Tensile and flexural properties, short beam strength, and impact properties were optimized using the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). This approach was used to select the best material for use in cricket pads. The candidate samples were ranked using statistical techniques. The optimum sample was found to be FP5, i.e., Flax with polypropylene using five layers, which exhibited the maximum impact strength. The results showed that the mechanical properties were improved in general by increasing the number of layers. The significance and percentage contribution of each factor was obtained by ANOVA (α = 0.10) and pie chart, which showed Factors A and C (inlay yarn and number of layers) to be the main contributors. The optimal samples showed superior impact-related performance compared to a market sample cricket pad.