Facile fabrication and mass production of TPU/Silica/STF coated aramid fabric with excellent flexibility and quasi-static stab resistance for versatile protection

Stab-resistant materials with lightness and softness have received increasing attention with the progress and development of society. In this paper, we have fabricated excellent flexibility and quasi-static stab resistance fabric by coated thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU)/Silica /Shear thickening fluid (STF) on the aramid fabric, which can be facile fabrication and mass production. Several tests, including quasi-static stab test, quasi-static puncture test, yarn pull-out test, and interlayer peeling test were conducted to evaluate the bonding fastness between TPU film and the stab resistance of the coated fabric. The results showed that the quasi-static stab resistance, puncture resistance, and yarn pulling-out performance of TPU-coated fabrics were improved greatly compared to neat fabrics. Coated fabrics had lower quality increase and less flexibility decrease as compared with neat fabrics. The stab resistance of the fabric treated with TPU coating solution with silica additive was also improved. Meanwhile, the aramid fabric coated with a coating solution containing 3 % fumed silica had the best performance in terms of knife stab and puncture force performance (135.98% higher for P1 knife blade stabbing, 127.21 % for S1 knife blade stabbing and 129.48 % for spike punching) as compared with neat fabrics.