Of the last 3,422 years, only 268 have been free of armed conflicts somewhere in the world

This fact indicates the significance of military and defense textiles. Textiles have long been considered one of the most essential industries second only to steel in the essentiality for the armed forces.

1. Introduction:

Among the most demanding customers of textile materials in world are the members of our fighting forces, and army personnel are among those with the critical requirements. Personal protective equipment for military personnel is needed during non-combat, combat & emergency survival operation. Military uniforms must meet specific protective performance requirements related to their use ion battlefield, tanks, aircrafts, underwater etc. including the high hazards such as gravitational forces during high acceleration-deceleration, extreme temperatures ambient conditions, immersion hypothermia etc. The technical textiles have proved to be the major contributor to the defense applications replacing the conventional heavier materials.

Primary areas of protection:

The primary areas of protection under all environmental conditions include ballistics, chemical/biological, detection through odour, noise and visual enhancing devices, flame and thermal, insects and micro-organisms. In addition to protection, the gear must have properties for high resistance to sun, resist mildew, withstand static propensity in numerous applications, be water repellent, have excellent durability to resist abrasion, tears and breaks, meet air permeability requirements that very according to the end use and, for some military applications, be resistant to petroleum oil and lubricants is significant in that requirements must be unaffected by the numerous washings. To the knowledgeable textile professional, all of these requirements add up to significant challenges in fibre type selection, fibre size dyestuff selection, material technical design and functional finish utilization. Quite often, it is very challenging for the manufacturers to be able to incorporate the many chemicals and processing steps to meet the stringent military requirements when different chemistries compete with each other. For example, a particular dye or pigment needed to meet infrared protection against detection may not have good properties to colorfastness to laundry.

Role of fibres:

It is the fibres, however, that have the most significant impact over the capability to provide the high performance needed for soldiers, particularly in combat operations. Paramount in this regard is the excellent fibres available for the ballistic protection. Aramid and Polyethylene fibres form the backbone of excellent body armor that is doing a tremendous job in saving lives of soldiers. One of most promising fibre on the horizon is M5, which is being developed through the combined efforts of DuPont and Magellan systems international. Current efforts are focused on reducing the weight and bulk over the current items and improving moisture management for increased comfort.

Role of non-wovens:

Of great interest is the potential for using non-woven material products in selected items of combat clothing and equipment. Evaluations of various non-wovens have resulted in continuous interest and ongoing efforts. One of the characteristics that must be improved for military use is the durability that is reduced resulting from abrasion resistance. Efforts are underway worldwide to develop the performance of textile materials through nanotechnology and electro textiles.

2. Ballistic Protection:

The main threats to military personnel are fragmenting projectiles rather than bullets. The projectiles originate from grenades, mortars, artillery shells, mines and improvised explosive weapons. The other threats are low velocity bullets from handguns and high velocity bullets from rifles and machine guns.

Textile Fibres for Ballistic Protection:

Earlier, woven silk fabrics were used for ballistic protection. More recently high modulus aliphatic nylon 6.6 with high degree of crystallinity and low elongation was developed and widely used in body armour and as textile reinforcement in composite helmets.

The author is currently pursuing M.Tech from IIT, Delhi. He has done his B.Tech in Textile Technology from Punjab Technical University, Jallandhar (Punjab) India. He can be contacted at charanpreet.iitd@gmail.com