Impact absorbing material
AssigneeAuburn University
InventorHoward Thomas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A material to reduce the effects of trauma received from the impact of a projectile. One embodiment is a needle-punched, non-woven material including at least one type of ballistic fibers selected and oriented to provide a cushioning effect and maintain a high compressive restitution constant. A percentage of the fibers are oriented with at least their ends lying approximately perpendicular to the fabric plane and/or oriented to lie in a waveform generally along or parallel to the fabric plane. This enables the ends of the fibers lying perpendicular to the fabric plane to cushion the impact from the projectile by dissipating energy through compressional resistance, and the fibers along the fabric plane to reduce energy through dispersal along fiber lines, thereby reducing the trauma resulting from an impact.
Claims49
An impact resistant material comprising:
- a plurality of in-plane fibers defining a fabric plane;
- and
- a plurality of upright fibers, wherein at least a portion of each upright fiber is oriented generally perpendicular to the fabric plane, said upright fibers comprising a ballistic fiber material, wherein said upright fibers comprise at least about 25% of said material.
A ballistic resistant vest comprising:
- at least one layer of ballistic penetration resistant material;
- and
- at least one impact resistant layer comprising a plurality of in-plane fibers defining a fabric plane, and a plurality of upright fibers, wherein at least a portion of each upright fiber is oriented generally perpendicular to the fabric plane, said upright fibers comprising a ballistic fiber material, wherein said upright fibers comprise at least about 25% of said at least one impact resistant layer.
A liner for a ballistic resistant vest comprising at least one impact resistant layer, each said at least one impact resistant layer comprising:
- a plurality of in-plane fibers defining a fabric plane;
- and
- a plurality of upright fibers, wherein at least a portion of each upright fiber is oriented generally perpendicular to the fabric plane, said upright fibers comprising a ballistic fiber material, wherein said upright fibers comprise at least about 25% of said at least one impact resistant layer.
An impact resistant material comprising a plurality of fibers, at least a portion of said plurality of fibers comprising in-plane fibers defining a fabric plane, and at least 25% of said plurality of fibers comprising upright fibers having at least a portion of their length oriented generally perpendicular to the fabric plane.
A method of fabricating an impact-resistant material, said method comprising:
- forming a fiber mat comprising at least one layer of fibers, said fiber mat defining a mat thickness;
- and
- needlepunching said fiber mat to a depth of no more than about ⅓ the mat thickness to an extent wherein at least about 25% of said fiber mat comprises upright fibers oriented generally perpendicular to a plane defined by said fiber mat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.