Stab and ballistic resistant articles and the process of making

A process for forming a dimensionally stable open fabric, the process comprising:

• a) providing a woven fabric comprising a plurality of warp elongate bodies interwoven and bonded with a plurality of transversely disposed weft elongate bodies, said warp elongate bodies and weft elongate bodies each comprising thermoplastic high tenacity elongate bodies having a tenacity of at least about 14 g/denier and a tensile modulus of at least about 300 g/denier, wherein adjacent warp elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the warp elongate bodies and adjacent weft elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the weft elongate bodies;
• b) at least partially melting the thermoplastic polymer of the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and/or the high tenacity weft elongate bodies;
• and
• c) allowing the melted thermoplastic polymer of the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and/or the high tenacity weft elongate bodies to solidify, whereby the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and the high tenacity weft elongate bodies are bonded to each other, thereby forming a dimensionally stable open fabric.

A process for forming a ballistic resistant closed, thermally fused multilayer article comprising:

• a) providing at least one open woven fabric comprising a plurality of warp elongate bodies interwoven and bonded with a plurality of transversely disposed weft elongate bodies, said warp elongate bodies and weft elongate bodies each comprising thermoplastic high tenacity elongate bodies having a tenacity of at least about 14 g/denier and a tensile modulus of at least about 300 g/denier, wherein adjacent warp elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the warp elongate bodies and adjacent weft elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the weft elongate bodies;
• b) providing at least one closed, fused sheet formed from a woven fabric, said woven fabric comprising a plurality of warp elongate bodies interwoven and bonded with a plurality of transversely disposed weft elongate bodies, said warp elongate bodies and weft elongate bodies each comprising thermoplastic high tenacity elongate bodies having a tenacity of at least about 14 g/denier and a tensile modulus of at least about 300 g/denier, wherein adjacent warp elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the warp elongate bodies and adjacent weft elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the weft elongate bodies, wherein the closed, fused sheet has substantially no gaps between adjacent high tenacity elongate bodies and wherein said high tenacity elongate bodies do not overlap;
• c) adjoining the at least one open woven fabric and the at least one closed, fused sheet together;
• and
• d) thermally pressing the adjoined at least one woven fabric and at least one fused sheet together under conditions sufficient to attach the woven fabric to the fused sheet and to flatten the high tenacity elongate bodies in the woven fabric, thereby causing the longitudinal edges of the adjacent high tenacity warp elongate bodies in the woven fabric to contact each other, whereby there are substantially no gaps between said adjacent high tenacity warp elongate bodies and wherein said high tenacity warp elongate bodies do not overlap.