Protective material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9464872-B2
Application number	US-201214358795-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2012
Priority date	Nov 17, 2011
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

According to the invention there is provided a protective material for dissipating the kinetic energy of a moving object including a plurality of layers of fibrous armor material in which at least some adjacent layers of fibrous armor material are separated by one or more separator layers for reducing inter-layer friction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A protective material for dissipating the kinetic energy of a moving object, the protective material comprising:
a plurality of separator layers; and
a plurality of layers of fibrous armour material impregnated with a shear thickening fluid for reducing inter-layer friction in which at least some adjacent layers of fibrous armour material are separated by one or more of the separator layers, wherein at least one layer of the fibrous armour material is sandwiched between two of the separator layers,
wherein at least one of the layers in the adjacent layers of fibrous armour material which are separated by the separator layers is not impregnated with a shear thickening fluid.

2. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the separator layer is a friction reducing layer for reducing inter-layer friction.

3. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the separator layer is a discrete layer of the separator layer material.

4. A protective material according to claim 3 in which the discrete layer is formed from a polymeric material.

5. A protective material according to claim 3 in which the discrete layer is a sheet or film.

6. A protective material for dissipating the kinetic energy of a moving object, the protective material comprising:
a plurality of separator layers; and
a plurality of layers of fibrous armour material impregnated with a shear thickening fluid for reducing inter-layer friction in which at least some adjacent layers of fibrous armour material are separated by one or more of the separator layers,
wherein at least one layer of the fibrous armour material is sandwiched between two of the separator layers, and
wherein the separator layer is a discrete layer of a metal or a ceramic.

7. A protective material according to claim 3 in which the discrete layer is formed at least in part from a fabric.

8. A protective material for dissipating the kinetic energy of a moving object, the protective material comprising:
a plurality of separator layers; and
a plurality of layers of fibrous armour material impregnated with a shear thickening fluid for reducing inter-layer friction in which at least some adjacent layers of fibrous armour material are separated by one or more of the separator layers,
wherein at least one layer of the fibrous armour material is sandwiched between two of the separator layers, and
wherein the separator layer is a coating applied to at least one of the layers of fibrous armour material.

9. A protective material according to claim 8 in which the coating is a polymeric coating, an oil, a gel or a fluid.

10. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the majority of the layers of fibrous armour material are impregnated with a shear thickening fluid.

11. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the layers of fibrous armour material which are impregnated with a shear thickening fluid are positioned behind and/or in front of one or more layers of fibrous armour material which are not impregnated with a shear thickening fluid.

12. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the shear thickening fluid includes particles suspended in a liquid.

13. A protective material according to claim 12 in which the particles are inorganic particles or polymers.

14. A protective material according to claim 13 in which the particles are silica.

15. A protective material according to claim 12 in which the liquid is an organic liquid, a silicone based liquid or aqueous liquid.

16. A protective material according to claim 15 in which the liquid is ethylene glycol.

17. A protective material according to claim 1 in which the armour material contains aramid fibres.

18. An article of body armour including a protective material according to claim 1 .

19. A vehicle including a protective material according to claim 1 .

20. A flexible structure for mitigating the effects of blast events including a protective material according to claim 1 .

21. A protective material according to claim 1 in which at least one of the separator layers is adjacent to only one layer of the fibrous armour material.

22. A protective material according to claim 1 in which at least two of the separator layers abut each other.

Assignees

• Bae Systems Plc

Inventors

• Dyke Amy Elizabeth
• Haq Sajad
• Morley Caroline Joleen

Classifications

• F41H5/0421

  Ceramic layers in combination with metal layers · CPC title

• F41H5/0485

  all the layers being only fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers · CPC title

• F41H5/0464

  the additional layers being only fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers · CPC title

• F41H5/0478

  Fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers in combination with plastics layers · CPC title

• F41H5/0435 Primary

  the additional layers being only fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers · CPC title