The effect of the presence of shear thickening fluid on the behavior of ultra-high-molecular weight polyethylene fibers against soft impact

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Dynamic Behavior of Materials Lab., Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

10.22060/mej.2026.25142.7925

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of the presence of shear-thickening fluid (STF) on the soft impact behavior of ultra-high-density polyethylene fibers (trade name Dyneema). Ballistic gelatin was used as the soft projectile material, and STF in pure and modified states was distributed by pressure between two layers of Dyneema fibers with cross-layering. To compare Dyneema targets in the absence of STF and also impregnated with it, they were loaded with soft projectiles with a mass of 5.5 g and average initial velocity of 86 m/s. The neat Dyneema fibers were permanently damaged due to perforation of the projectile with a bulge in the range of 35 mm and 54% of kinetic energy is absorbed. The presence of STF significantly increased the strength of the targets in both pure and modified conditions and the permanent bulge fell below the 3 mm. None of impregnated samples suffered from perforation due to a significant increase in interlayer friction and the extent of damage and permanent bulge was significantly reduced. In absence of the STF solvent (dried condition), the interlayer friction increased further and the samples did not experienced measurable bulge and observable damage. The results indicate the very effective performance of STF in increasing the strength of structures against soft impact, without imposing significant weight and cost penalties.

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 57, Issue 9
in progress
December 2025

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