Crimp-Imbalanced Protective (Crimp) Fabrics

This report documents research that was conducted to explore the unique concept of using crimp imbalance, which is a simple architectural modification achieved during the weaving process, as a potential mechanism to enhance fragmentation and ballistic protection levels of single-ply woven fabrics. It is shown in this report that crimp imbalance (1) can substantially influence the energy-absorption levels of single-ply fabrics for select fragment simulating projectile (FSP) velocities and friction coefficients; (2) can be tailored to controllably delay stress-wave propagations among yarn directions; and (3) can minimize reflections at the yarn crossover regions. This research, which used numerical models of single ply, plain-woven fabric, demonstrated that deviations in crimp contents can have significant effects on energy absorptions and projectile residual velocities; in short, optimal levels of crimp imbalance may exist for a specific ballistic threat type.