Accepted Manuscript

Role of ZnO nanowire arrays on the impact response of aramid fabrics

Mohammad H. Malakooti, Hyun-Sik Hwang, Nakhiah C. Goulbourne, Henry A.

Sodano

PII: S1359-8368(17)30147-6
DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2017.05.084
Reference: JCOMB 5120

To appear in: Composites Part B

Received Date: 14 January 2017

Revised Date: 15 April 2017
Accepted Date: 25 May 2017

Please cite this article as: Malakooti MH, Hwang H-S, Goulbourne NC, Sodano HA, Role of ZnO
nanowire arrays on the impact response of aramid fabrics, Composites Part B (2017), doi: 10.1016/
j.compositesb.2017.05.084.

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Role of ZnO Nanowire Arrays on the Impact Response of

Aramid Fabrics
Mohammad H. Malakooti a, Hyun-Sik Hwang b, Nakhiah C. Goulbourne a,c, and Henry A.
Sodano a,c *

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a
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA
b
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
c
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

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Abstract
High performance aramid fabrics are extensively used in personal body armor to provide

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soft, lightweight, yet effective ballistic protection. Grafting nanomaterials on the surface of
aramid fibers is one of the promising methods recently developed for enhancing and tailoring the
performance of the fabrics and their composites. Recently, it was shown that growth of ZnO

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nanowires on aramid fibers drastically improves fabric interyarn friction, as an energy
dissipation mechanism. In this work, the influence of ZnO nanowires on the ballistic response of
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aramid fabrics is evaluated. Intermediate velocity (22 – 40 m/s) impact tests are conducted on
the fabric targets using a gas gun setup. The setup was equipped with a shock accelerometer for
measuring contact force and two photoresistors for accurate velocity measurement of the
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projectile just before impact. As a result of the integration of ZnO nanowires, the maximum
impact force of a single aramid fabric is increased approximately 66% in a specific range of
impactor velocity. It is postulated that in this velocity range yarn pullout is the dominant failure
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mechanism of the fabrics for the specific fabric and projectile geometry used in this study.
Furthermore, post-test imaging of the fabric targets confirms the efficacy of ZnO nanowires to
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enhance impact resistance of aramid fabrics as a result of increased interyarn friction and
limiting yarns’ mobility.
Keywords: ZnO nanowires; aramid fabric; ballistic; impact behavior; nanostructures; interface
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1. Introduction
In the design of personal armor systems, weight and flexibility of the materials are critical
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factors along with the level of ballistic protection provided. Polymeric fabrics, such as aramid
(known as Kevlar and Twaron) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (known as
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Spectra and Dyneema) have been commonly utilized in soft body armor applications due to
their low density, high tensile strength, and high strain to failure [1-3]. In addition to the
mechanical properties of the fibers and architecture of the fabric [4-10], the interfacial properties
also contribute significantly to energy dissipation and consequently prevention of projectile
penetration [11-14]. Therefore the impact protection limit of soft body armor can be improved
through a modification of any one of these parameters. In order to utilize the mechanical
properties of high performance polymeric fabrics and benefit from their low-cost production and
low density, the surface properties of the fibers can be enhanced with an ultimate goal of

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improving the fabric’s overall impact resistance. However, this goal has not achieved yet
through available surface modification methods due to their complexity, reduced flexibility and
mechanical strength of the base fibers, and added extra weight to the fabrics.
Interyarn friction defines the sliding friction between yarns or tows in a fabric and is one of
the critical parameters that contribute to energy absorption under impact loading [12-15].
Previous studies on the interyarn friction of aramid fabric have shown that it correlates to the

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required energy for a yarn to be pulled out from a fabric and the amount of the dissipated energy
between moving tows [11-17]. In early studies, Briscoe et al. investigated the role of increased
and reduced interyarn friction on the ballistic performance of aramid fabrics [11, 16]. It was

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shown that lubricating the fibers with 5% solution of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in petroleum
ether decreases the ballistic limits while removing the manufacturer applied fiber sizing increases

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both interyarn friction and penetration resistance of woven fabric armors [11]. In their study and
other comparison studies, both quasi-static tow pullout testing and high velocity impact testing
have been performed. The quasi-static tow pullout testing is generally used to evaluate the
interyarn friction while the high-velocity impact testing has been utilized to provide more

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realistic evaluation of the ballistic performance of the fabrics. Regardless of the existing
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correlation between results of the quasi-static and high strain rate tests, measurement of high
strain rate impact behavior is essential to confirm the efficacy of any proposed methodology for
improving ballistic protection of aramid fabrics.
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In recent years, considerable efforts based on fiber treatment have been made to improve the
interyarn friction and consequently ballistic response of fabric armors. Gawandi et al. [18]
proposed polymeric coating of aramid fabrics and evaluated its effectiveness through
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characterizing the tow pullout behavior of treated fabrics. Their results suggested that the
polymeric microstructures on the surface of the aramid fibers significantly affect the tow pullout
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behavior. Dry SiO2 particles and concentrated fluid-particle suspension (shear thickening fluid)
were introduced by Kalman et al. [19] as an alternative fiber treatment for aramid fabrics.
Through yarn pull-out, quasi-static puncture, and ballistic penetration tests, it was shown that the
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reduction in mobility of the fibers and yarns increases the pullout strength of the aramid fabrics.
Later, it was revealed that treating fabrics with shear thickening fluid transfers the load
concentration on primary yarns into the entire structure of the aramid fabrics and thus enhancing
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the ballistic performance [20-22]. Based on these numerical and experimental studies, the
importance of the surface morphology (e.g. sizing and roughness) of aramid fibers on pullout
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behavior of the fabrics and its effectiveness on ballistic response of these fabrics have become an
apparent phenomenon [23-26].
An alternative approach to increase the interyarn friction is grafting nanomaterials on the
surface of the fibers. The presence of nanostructures on the surface of the fibers directly affects
the mobility of the fibers and tows in the fabric because of the increased contact area and
mechanical interlocking between fibers. In comparison with untreated aramid fabrics, greater
sliding frictions between yarns of modified woven fabrics have been reported. For instance, Chu
et al. [27] applied a sol-gel treatment to aramid yarns to increase the interyarn friction by

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creating nano-sized TiO2/ZnO sol coating. Although the tensile properties of the aramid yarns
slightly decreased, the interyarn friction of the sol-gel treated aramid fabrics was improved
without adding considerable weight to the fabrics. Later, LaBarre et al. [28] showed that
synthesis of multi wall carbon nanotubes on aramid fibers increases the peak load in yarn pullout
by 230% with negligible (0.4–1.4 %) weight increase. More recently, we have introduced ZnO
nanowires as a tunable nanostructured interface for increasing the interyarn friction of woven

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aramid fabrics without compromising their intrinsic strength [29, 30]. It was shown that
compared to neat aramid fabrics, the ZnO coated fabrics possess 10.85 times higher peak load
and 22.70 times higher energy absorption during the tow pullout test [29]. Moreover, it was

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shown that the morphology of the nanowires can be utilized to tailor the interyarn friction and
possibly the impact resistance of the aramid fabrics [30, 31]. Similar to biomimetic
nanostructured interfaces in hybrid composites [32-36], the increased fiber roughness and

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mechanical interlocking between moving aramid fibers explains the drastic improvement in
interyarn friction. Another advantage of the growth of ZnO nanowires on aramid fabrics is that
the tensile strength and modulus of the fabrics can be increased by 13% and 10%, respectively

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[30].
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Although the result of tow pullout and tensile tests of modified fabrics demonstrate the
efficacy of the proposed mechanism for energy absorption in quasi-static lading conditions, high
velocity impact testing is required to fully evaluate the capacity of the ZnO nanowire grown
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aramid fabrics for soft body armor applications. Many recent studies on the role of
nanostructures interfaces, such as ZnO and CuO nanowires, have been performed on drop tower
impact system [31, 35, 36]. In these studies a low-velocity impact testing, in the range of 5 m/s,
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is used since the impact response of these woven fabric composites is usually attributed to the
level of friction between fibers and tows. The reason for selecting a range of velocities far below
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the V50 limit is that mechanisms such as interyarn and yarn-projectile frictions are main
mechanisms to dissipating impact energy at this velocity zone [37]. While there is no research
on surface modified aramid fabrics which can relate the interyarn friction in whiskered fabrics to
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their ballistic limit, a recent experimental study by Nilakantan et al., showed for the first time
that a correlation between the probabilistic impact response of woven aramid fabrics impacted at
relatively low velocity and the variability in inter-yarn frictional sliding existed [26]. In this
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study, the scoured aramid fabrics with higher interyarn friction resulted in lower V50 but higher
V1 compared to the fabrics with lower interyarn friction. However, by studying the probabilistic
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penetration response of these high performance fabrics it was revealed that the V1 response of a
fabric, rather than the V50 response, ultimately determines the ballistic performance of soft body
armors. Therefore this study showed that the interyarn friction play a crucial role in tailoring the
probabilistic response of fabrics for life-saving applications rather than increasing the V50 which
is the most commonly used method for evaluating the fabrics [26].
In this study, the ballistic behavior of ZnO grown aramid (Kevlar KM2) fabrics under
various impact velocities is investigated. Vertically aligned ZnO nanowires are uniformly
synthesized on large aramid fabrics and each of the fabrics are examined using an instrumented

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gas gun system. Neat aramid fabrics are also examined as control samples to fully study the role
of the ZnO nanowires on the dynamic response of the modified aramid fabrics. The velocity of
impactor is varied in order to determine an optimum velocity where the sliding friction between
aramid tows in a single fabric has maximum effect during the fabric failure. Accurate
measurement of the projectile’s velocity and impact force facilitate analyzing the impact
response of ZnO treated and untreated aramid fabrics. The results suggest that the presence of

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the ZnO nanowires on the surface of the aramid fabrics increases the maximum impact force
while enhancing the tensile properties of fabrics.

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2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Neat aramid fabric

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For this study, Kevlar (KM2 Style 706 scoured, CS-800) fabric was purchased from JPS
Composite Materials Corporation. The neat aramid fabric specimens were of the 600 denier
plain woven Kevlar KM2. The weft and warp count in this fabric style is 34x34 yarns per inch.

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The Kevlar KM2 706 style has an area density of 182 g/m2 with a thickness of 230 microns.
The average diameter of the Kevlar KM2 fibers is measured from scanning electron microscopy
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images and is in the range of 10–11 microns.

2.2 Synthesis of ZnO nanowires on aramid fabric

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Prior to ZnO nanowire synthesis, the fabric specimens were cut into 16x16 cm2 and were
sequentially cleaned in boiling acetone and ethanol in order to remove residual organic
contaminants and sizing on the fabric surface and then dried in a convection oven. The synthesis
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parameters for ZnO nanowire growth used here are the same as parameters used in the previous
studies on increasing the aramid fabrics’ interyarn friction through integration of ZnO nanowire
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arrays [29, 30]. In brief, the aramid fabrics were first coated with ZnO nanoparticles followed by
an aqueous hydrothermal reaction to grow arrays of ZnO nanowire on the deposited
nanoparticles. The fabric was dip-coated three times in a colloidal suspension of ZnO
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nanoparticles in the first step. The ZnO nanoparticle colloidal solution was prepared according
to Wong et al. by making separate solutions of 0.0125 M zinc acetate dehydrate (Alfa Aesar,
99.5%) and 0.02 M NaOH (EMD Millipore, 99.5%) in ethanol (Decon Labs, 100%) [38]. Then
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40 mL of the NaOH solution and 40 mL of the zinc acetate solution were added to 100 and 320
mL of ethanol, respectively. Each solution was heated separately up to 65 °C, then mixed
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together under vigorous stirring and heated at 65 °C for 45 minutes. After forming a conformal
layer of ZnO nanoparticles on the fibers, the fabrics were placed into a closed container of
growth solution for hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanowires and kept at 86 °C for 5 hours. The
solution in the second step was an aqueous solution of 48 mM Zn(NO3)2·6H2O (Sigma-Aldrich,
≥ 99.0%), 24 mM hexamethylene tetramine (Sigma-Aldrich, ≥ 99.0%), 7.7 mM
polyethylenimine (Sigma-Aldrich, average Mw ~800), and 0.49 M NH4OH (Ricca, 28.0 – 30.0
wt %). After completion of the reaction, the fabrics with ZnO nanowire coated fibers were
rinsed with deionized water and dried at 100 °C for an hour.

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2.3 Characterization of ZnO nanostructures

Scanning electron microscopy (JEOL 2010F) was utilized to capture micrographs of ZnO
nanowires and study the length, diameter, and uniformity of the synthesized nanostructures on
aramid fibers. The decomposition temperature of aramid fibers and weight percentage of ZnO
nanowires was carried out with a DSC-TGA (SDT Q600, TA Instruments) under air flow.
Specimens of about 2–3 mg were examined and the temperature was increased from 30°C to

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700°C with a heating rate of 10°C/min.

2.4 Tensile test

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The textile fabrics are cut into strips with a gauge length of 75 mm using a Kevlar Shear. 12
specimens consisting of 20 yarns were examined for each case. The fabrics were tabbed with 3-
plies of fabric bonded to each side of the fabric a high shear strength epoxy (Loctite 9430

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Hysol) to provide proper grip and avoid damage to the fabric. All samples were strained in the
weft (fill) direction with a cross-head speed of 300 mm/min on an Instron universal load frame

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(Model 5982) with a load capacity of 100 kN. The specimens were allowed to break to
determine the ultimate strength and breaking elongation of the fabrics.
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2.5 High velocity impact test
Impact tests at an intermediate velocity range (up to 40 m/s) were conducted using a custom
designed gas gun setup. The schematic of the setup is shown in Figure 1a. The setup was
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powered using a pressure chamber and it was equipped with a shock accelerometer and velocity
sensors for accurate measurement of impact load and corresponding velocity of the projectile.
As shown in Figure 1b, the accelerometer (Kistler K-Shear 8742A50) was screwed into the
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back of the projectile with a spacer that compresses the sabot outward during the impact. The
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captured acceleration during the impact was converted to the contact load using the known mass
and sensitivity of the transducer. As indicated in Figure 1c, two photoresistors with a known
distance of 19.05 mm (3/4 inch) were placed at the end of the barrel to determine the velocity of
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the impactor by capturing the required time for the impactor to travel the distance between
sensors and block the incident light. Comprehensive details on this custom-built setup can be
found elsewhere [39, 40].
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A blunt projectile made of 4130 alloy steel with a mass of 29 g and diameter of 11.40 mm
was used for this experiment (Figure 1b). Commercially available 0.50 caliber rifle sabots
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having a diameter of 12.70 mm were machined in order to mount the accelerometer. Because of
the blunt tip of the projectile, the fabric targets were tabbed and then clamped at four sides
between two 0.5 inch thick steel plates. Fabrics were sandwiched between two square fabric tabs
using a high shear strength epoxy (Loctite 9430 Hysol) with a cut-out of 15x15 cm2, equal to
the size of the cut-outs in steel plate holders. The added tabs to the fabrics and controlled torque
applied to the screws on the steel plate provided uniform clamping load and prevented the
slippage of the targets during the impact.

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Figure 1: Experimental setup: (a) schematic of the instrumented impact testing setup, (b) schematic and
photograph of the impactor with mounted shock accelerometer, (c) 4-side clamped fabric assembled in ¼
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inch distance from the barrel with two photoresistors.

3. Results and Discussion

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3.1 Structure of ZnO grown aramid fabrics

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Uniform coverage of the ZnO nanowires was confirmed by visual observation of the color
change over the entire fabric in addition to utilizing a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to
control the morphology of the nanowires. The SEM micrographs of the synthesized ZnO
nanowires on the surface of a plain weave aramid fabric are shown in Figure 2a and 2b, at two
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different magnifications. Figure 2a shows a low magnification SEM image to demonstrates the
uniform growth of the ZnO nanostructures on individual fibers of each tow in both weft and
warp directions. Although the structure of the ZnO nanowires cannot be resolved at this
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magnification, presence of any inconsistency in the coating will appear in at this scale in the
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form of regions with different contrast or brightness. Uniform appearance of individual fibers in
Figure 2a indicates the full coverage of the aramid fibers over the entire fabric, specifically at the
crossing point of the tows. The morphology (length and diameter) of the nanowires is visualized
better at higher magnification in Figure 2b. As seen in this figure, the nanowires have an
average length of 1 to 2 µm while the diameter of these nanowires can vary in the range of 40 to
800 nm [30, 41, 42].
The lightweight and flexibility of the aramid fabrics are the main reasons for extensive use of
these fabrics in soft body armor application, thus, these intrinsic characteristics of aramid fabrics

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should be preserved after surface modification. The only difference between the appearance of
dried ZnO NW grown fabrics and neat fabrics was the slight color change of the fabrics from
shiny yellow color to dull yellow indicating the white coating on the fibers. As depicted in
Figure 2c and 2d, a negligible difference in flexibility and deformability of the fabrics under
small loading was observed. Since the grown ZnO nanowires on a fiber do not bridge to the
adjacent fibers in the same tow or the neighboring tows, the bending properties of the fabric is

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preserved. Meanwhile, the ZnO nanowires covers the surface of the fibers to the level which
increases the required energy for a tow to be pulled out by about 23 times compared to a neat
fabric [29]. Furthermore, it has been previously shown that the growth of ZnO nanowire arrays

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on aramid fibers enhances the interfacial properties of hybrid fiber reinforced composites to be
used as lightweight structural materials [43]. Thus, it can be concluded that applied physical
surface modification on aramid fabrics serves as both energy dissipation mechanism and

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interface reinforcement and it does not compromise the flexibility and deformability of the
fabrics as one of the essential requirements for soft body armors.

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Figure 2: Images of the ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabrics: (a) SEM micrograph of ZnO nanowires on
aramid tows at the crossing point, (b) morphology of the ZnO nanowires on aramid fibers, (c) flexibility of
a neat aramid fabric, (d) flexibility of a ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric, with slight color change.

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3.2 Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is conducted on ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric in
order to accurately identify the weight increase of the fabrics after the synthesis process of ZnO.
Figure 3 shows the TGA measurements of two different ZnO nanowire grown fabrics and one
neat fabric. The ZnO nanowire grown fabric samples were prepared from two different synthesis
parameters resulting in a slight variation in nanowires morphologies. For all three cases a major

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weight loss is observed from 520 to 600 °C where the aramid fibers decompose. However, in the
representative ZnO nanowire grown fabrics the ZnO does not decompose at this temperature
range. Therefore, the remaining weight percentage after total decomposition of the fibers

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indicates the weight percentage of ZnO nanowires. This result shows that 23% of the total
weight of sample one with thick nanowires and 14% of the total weight of the sample two with

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thin nanowires is composed of ZnO nanostructures. Since the density of nanowires slightly
varies from point to point in an individual fabric as well as between different fabrics, 12 samples
were prepared from random locations of four different ZnO grown fabrics. After completing

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thermogravimetric analysis, the final results showed that the amount of weight increase in aramid
fabrics varies from 12 to 30% due to the presence of ZnO nanowires. This weight increase of
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aramid fabric is negligible when compared to other physical modifications of aramid fabrics
which involve with incorporation of an extra phase. For instance, 2 ml of a colloidal shear
thickening fluid increases the weight of 4 layers of aramid fabrics more than 150%, from 1.9 g to
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4.8 g [44].
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Figure 3: Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of a ZnO coated aramid fabric demonstrating the weight
percentage of the ZnO nanowires

3.3 Tensile properties of ZnO coated fabrics

Elastic modulus of aramid fabrics and the mobility of their tows are properties that govern
the ballistic behavior of the fabrics. The tensile properties of the fabrics before and after ZnO
nanowire grown process have been measured in order to study the effect of nanowires on

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elasticity of the fabrics and to ensure that fabric strength is preserved after the synthesis process.
In order to accomplish this objective, the elastic modulus and tensile strength of fabrics are
measured following ASTM D5353 standard. After specimen preparation, the fabrics were
subjected to quasi-static tensile loading. The captured load–displacement curves were
transformed to stress–strain curves in order to determine the elastic modulus and ultimate tensile
strength of the aramid fabrics with and without ZnO nanowire coating. As shown in Figure 4a,

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the average elastic modulus of aramid fabrics is increased 8.8 %, from 61.88 to 67.36 GPa after
coating the fiber surface with ZnO nanowires. Similarly, the average tensile strength of the
treated aramid fabrics was measured to be 2.49 GPa which is 13.2 % higher than the one for neat

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aramid fabric, as seen in Figure 4b. Although both elastic modulus and tensile strength of
aramid fabrics are increased due to the higher interyarn friction of tows, the breaking elongation
of the fabric strips remain the same since the strength of individual fibers have not been changed

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during the process. It should be mentioned that this tensile behavior is in agreement with
previous studies showing that the growth of nanostructured whiskers such as ZnO nanowires
(also known as nanorods) and carbon nanotubes on structural fibers improves the fabric’s

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elasticity and tensile strength [28, 30].
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Figure 4: Tensile properties of neat and ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabrics (Kevlar KM2): (a) elastic
modulus and (b) ultimate tensile strength.
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3.4 Ballistic performance

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Two different targets, ZnO nanowire grown and neat aramid fabrics, were subjected to
impact tests with an impactor velocity ranging from 22 m/s to 40 m/s in order to evaluate their
impact resistance of each case and identify the influence of the presence of the nanostructures.
The contact force in the middle of the fabric targets was measured to utilize the peak values for
comparison of different target’s ballistic behavior. As shown in Figure 5a, three different
velocity zones are presented that correlate to different response of the fabrics under impact
loading. At lower velocity zone, less than 26 m/s, both neat and ZnO grown aramid fabrics had
similar impact loads and projectile did not penetrate into the fabrics. However, increasing the

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impactor’s velocity up to the range of 37 to 40 m/s led to failure of the individual aramid fibers
and consequently perforation of all the tested samples in this condition regardless of the presence
or absence of the nanostructures on the surface of fibers. During impact tests with impactor
velocity ranging from 30 m/s to 34 m/s, fiber rupture partially happened and the impactor did not
travel fully through the fabrics. In this condition, different ballistic behaviors of the ZnO treated
and untreated fabrics were observed.

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To study the different impact resistance behaviors of treated and untreated fabric targets,
representative load curves versus elapsed time during the impact events with impactor velocities
in the range of 30 to 34 m/s are demonstrated in Figure 5b. From these two load curves it was

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observed that the impact initiates by increasing the contact load and reaches to the first peak
load. After this point, the amount of the contact load slightly drops as the fabric deforms and

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reaches its maximum deflection at the center. Once the fabric is at its maximum deflection, it
prevents the impactor from traveling further, which causes an increase in the impact load and the
formation of a secondary peak load in the curve. If the fibers fail during the second peak load,
the impactor penetrates the fabric and hits the clay trap and the kinetic energy dissipates, whereas

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if the fabric resists the second peak load, the impactor will be stopped with a larger peak load.
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During the impact events where the impactor had a velocity of 30 to 34 m/s, similar first peak
load values (approximately 1,000 N) were observed for examined neat and ZnO nanowire grown
aramid fabrics while a considerable difference was observed at the second peak load. The
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second peak loads for aramid fabrics with ZnO nanowire coating were in the range of 1,820 to
2,200 N while the neat aramid fabrics showed a maximum impact load of approximately 1,200
N. It should be mentioned that at lower velocity zone, when the impactor travels at speeds lower
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than 26 m/s the total momentum of impactor is not sufficient to penetrate the fabric or fail the
fibers. Also, the impact force is very similar in both cases since the total kinetic energy of
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projectile has been dissipated when projectile was blocked by the fabric. This response of the
fabrics at low velocity impact was expected and Figure 5c confirms that all of the impact energy
is absorbed by the fabric during the impact. At higher velocity, above 37 m/s, during the
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penetration failure of fabrics, a portion of kinetic energy stored in the traveling impactor
dissipates in the clay trap inside the catcher chamber and causing a third peak load in the curve
which. The third peak indicates that the amount of kinetic energy is preserved during the full
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event (Figure 5d). Thus, at this velocity range the required energy to rupture the aramid fibers
remains the same for different cases. However, compared to lower velocity zone, the first peak
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load is ~500 N higher which indicates the higher momentum of the projectile in this velocity
zone. Regardless of the variation in first peak loads during impact tests with different velocities,
it should be noted that before and after the critical impact velocity range no different behavior
should be observed. The reason is that below and above this velocity, the maximum force
remains the same for both neat and ZnO nanowire grown fabrics because the total kinetic energy
absorbed by the blocking targets or by the broken bonds in the fibers are the same. The result of
impact test also confirms that before and after the critical velocity zone, no different maximum
impact load was observed in both cases.

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Figure 5: Results of intermediate velocity impact testing of neat and ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric:
(a) peak impact force versus projectile’s velocity in three different velocity zones, representative impact
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load curves for impactor velocities (b) between 30 and 34 m/s (c) below 26m/s, and (d) above 37m/s.

Depending on size, shape and velocity of the impactor, different failure mechanisms may
occur during the impact test. In some cases, the fabrics fail due to the breakage of the primary
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bonds in aramid fibers and yarn rupture or because of the yarn pullout or even fabric bowing [1].
For a specific projectile used in this study, three ranges of velocities were examined in order to
obtain the range where the yarn pullout is the dominant failure mode of the fabrics under these
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conditions. The metrics of each performed test are presented in Table 1 for both neat and ZnO
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nanowire grown aramid fabrics. For each case, the impactor’s velocity increases form low
velocity into high velocity impact zone. In addition, the type of failure for each case is also
included in Table 1 to demonstrate different behaviors of the fabrics in three different velocity
zones. While the impactor was able to penetrate to almost all the neat aramid fabrics except the
ones in lower velocity range, the ZnO nanowire grown fabrics were able to stop the impactor and
prevent it from reaching to the clay trap. Thus, the second peak load was noticeably higher
compared to the other fabrics tested at various velocities of the impactor.

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Table 1: Details of all the reported impact tests for neat and ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabrics

Neat Aramid Fabric Nanowire Grown Fabric

Impact Speed Impact Impact Speed Impact
Failure Failure
(m/s) Force (kN) (m/s) Force (kN)
24.8 1.81 No Penetration 23.8 1.78 No Penetration
25.8 1.82 No Penetration 24.2 1.86 No Penetration

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31.3 1.60 Partial Penetration 30.2 2.18 No Penetration
31.1 1.24 Partial Penetration 30.7 2.3 No Penetration
32.1 1.17 Full Penetration 31.6 2.17 No Penetration

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32.6 1.06 Full Penetration 32.3 2.21 No Penetration
37.3 1.56 Full Penetration 33.1 1.82 Partial Penetration
37.8 1.73 Full Penetration 33.3 2.17 No Penetration

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38.2 1.59 Full Penetration 33.5 1.89 Partial Penetration
33.8 2.11 No Penetration
38.2 1.80 Full Penetration

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39.2 1.89 Full Penetration
39.7 1.82 Full Penetration
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It appears that when impactor velocity ranges from 30 to 34 m/s, yarn pullout is the fabric’s
dominant failure mode under specific conditions (fabric type and projectile geometry).
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Therefore, the presence of the nanowires can be effective in this range. Figure 6 summaries the
average impact load and corresponding error for neat and ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabrics
subjected to the impactor with a velocity in the range of 30 to 34 m/s. The maximum impact
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load of neat aramid fabrics increased from 1,268 N to 2,107 N for ZnO nanowire grown fabrics,
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which is about 66% increase. This increase in the impact load of aramid fabrics can be explained
by the presence of nanowires and increased friction between yarns. Therefore, this result
demonstrates that ZnO nanowires are able to enhance the ballistic performance of an individual
aramid fabric by limiting the mobility of the individual fibers and tows during the impact. To
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explain this phenomenon, it should be mentioned that the growth of vertically aligned ZnO
nanowires on aramid fibers affects the mechanical properties of the fabric in different ways. For
ballistic applications, the tow pullout peak load due to the high interyarn friction increases up to
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985% while the high velocity impact test revealed that peak impact load increases about 66%
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where the major energy dissipation mechanism is yarn pullout failure due to the sliding friction
between neighboring yarns. This result is in agreement with 50% improvement in ballistic limit
of aramid fabrics decorated with MWCNTs that show 230% higher yarn pullout force compared
to neat aramid fabric [28]. Since a combination of different failure mechanisms contribute to the
failure of fabrics in a dynamic impact loading, limited impact resistance enhancement is
observed.

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Figure 6: Role of ZnO nanowires on maximum impact load for aramid (Kevlar) fabrics observed for 30 to
34 m/s impact velocity range.
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3.5 Post-test examination of aramid fabrics
It is postulated that the limited mobility of the fibers and yarns in the ZnO NW grown aramid
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fabric causes the difference in the response of the fabric targets subjected to an impact. Since the
yarn pullout is observable in failed fabrics, post-test examination of neat and ZnO grown aramid
fabrics is performed to explain the possible working mechanism of reinforcing ZnO nanowires
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during impact. Figure 7 compares neat aramid fabrics with ZnO coated ones under the three
different ranges of impactor velocity. In the low velocity impact range, less than 26 m/s, the
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impactor could not penetrate to the fabric and only left a mark at the center of the fabrics in both
cases, as shown in Figure 7a and 7d. Increasing the speed of the projectile altered the
deformation of the fabric and caused its failure. For the specific projectile used in this study and
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at the impact velocity of ~32 m/s, the ZnO nanowires increased the required impact load for
projectile’s penetration by filling the tow intersections and reducing the yarn’s mobility. Unlike
the neat aramid fabric case, where the tows were freely moving and it led to partial or full
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penetration of projectile (Figure 7b), the ZnO coated fibers increased the resistance of yarns from
being pulled out and it lead to no or partial penetration of projectile (as shown in Figure 7e). The
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low interyarn friction in neat aramid fabrics allows the sliding of the yarns and fibers against
adjacent ones which leave traces of yarn pull out on the examined fabrics (Figure 7b). On the
contrary, the ZnO nanowire coating increases the interfiber and interyarn frictions due to the
increased surface area and consequently limits the sliding of the yarns against neighboring yarns.
Therefore negligible macroscopic evidence of yarn sliding was observed in this case.
The dominant failure mechanism of the aramid fabrics changes with further increase in the
velocity of the impactor. Figure 7c and 7f compare a neat aramid fabric with a ZnO nanowire
grown aramid fabric, where the projectile fully penetrated to the fabrics at the high impact

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velocity range (above 37 m/s) and ruptured the fibers and yarns which led to the failure of the
fabrics. Even at this range of impact velocity, the yarns have been pulled out from neat aramid
fabric forming a cross shape because of the 4-side clamped boundary conditions. In contrast, the
aramid fabrics coated with vertically aligned ZnO nanowires did not demonstrate any trace of
pulled out yarns from the fabric. As expected, this observation implies the influence of ZnO
nanowires on impact resistance of aramid fabrics under impact loading even at high velocity

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range. However, the dominant failure mechanism is not yarn pull out due to the large
momentum of the projectile for a single layer fabric. It should be mentioned that at higher
velocity impacts where all the fibers in a yarn fail, multiple layers of ZnO nanowire grown

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aramid fabric is required to stop the projectile and prevent fabric’s failure. Nevertheless, the
impact behavior of the individual fabrics indicates that the growth of ZnO nanowires on aramid
fibers is a promising reinforcement method as more layers of fabrics and an optimum interyarn

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friction can be used for desired ballistic applications.

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Figure 7: Comparison between aramid fabrics (top row) and ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabrics (bottom
row) after impact: (a-d) low velocity impact zone (below 26 m/s) without penetration – red arrows indicate
the location of impact, (b-e) intermediate velocity impact zone with partial penetration for ZnO coated
fabric and full penetration for neat fabric at the velocity range of 32-33 m/s (c-f) high velocity impact
(above 37 m/s) with full penetration for both cases – blue arrows indicate pulled out yarns.

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Micrographs of the examined fabric targets were captured in order to further investigate
plausible energy dissipation mechanisms during the impact. Figure 8 shows the microstructures
and their deformation in the neat aramid and ZnO nanowire grown fabrics. All SEM images
were captured at a section of the fabrics close to the impact location and along the direction of
the pulled out yarns. Neat aramid fabrics did not indicate any substantial deformations besides
the large sliding of the fibers and tows. A micrograph of a neat aramid fabric that was impacted

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with the projectile traveling at the speed of 37 m/s is shown in Figure 8a. The architecture of the
weaves in this fabric was fully distorted and a minor level of fibrillation was observed due to the
sliding of the tows against each other. However, the fibers’ surfaces remained unchanged

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without presence of any fibrils (Figure 8b).
Different deformation of yarns was observed for ZnO nanowires coated fabrics. A common

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observation in all different cases was preserve of the alignment of the warp and weft in addition
to the thread crossing pattern as shown in Figure 8c. Studying the microstructure of this fabric
which was examined at 39 m/s revealed that the nanowire coatings were mostly delaminated
from the fiber surface due to the impact (Figure 8d). However, the increased surface area of the

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fibers and consequently the friction between then and yarns prevented yarns from sliding. When
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the ZnO nanowire grown fabrics were not fully perforated during the impact, some of the fibers
in a tow were pulled out (Figure 8e) in some cases and in others the fiber were also partially
ruptured (Figure 8f) at the location of impact. Although failure of a single layer aramid fabric at
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a high velocity impact is a combination of various failure mechanisms, this result demonstrates
that the presence of arrays of nanostructures on the fiber’s surface will increase the amount of
dissipated energy through interyarn friction and breaking additional bonds.
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4. Conclusion
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The impact resistance of aramid fabrics in 4-side clamped configuration was studied to
determine the role of the nanostructures on the surface of fibers. Neat aramid fabrics and ZnO
nanowire grown aramid fabrics were subjected to an impactor traveling at velocities in the range
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of 22 to 40 m/s. Accurate contact load measurement during the impact testing revealed that
presence of ZnO nanowire arrays on the surface of aramid fabric increases the impact resistance
of the fabrics about 66%. This phenomenon was explained by significant enhancement of
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interyarn friction in aramid fabrics after growth of ZnO nanowires on the fibers, as the nanowires
limit the mobility of the yarns within the fabric. Since the nanowires have minimal effect of the
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flexibility of the fabric and amount of extra weight added to the fabric is negligible, the proposed
methodology has a potential to be used for soft body armors.

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Figure 8: Micrographs of aramid fabrics after impact testing: (a) neat aramid fabric tested at 37 m/s, (b)
higher magnification image of neat aramid fibers, (c) ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric examined at 39
m/s, (d) microstructures consisting of nanowire coatings on the surface of aramid fibers, (e) pulled out twos
at the location of impact for partially failed ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric examined at 33 m/s, (f)
rupture of the fibers with additional fibrillation for partially failed ZnO nanowire grown aramid fabric
examined at 33 m/s.

Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for this research from the Army
Research Office (Contract # W911NF-16-1-0229) and the National Science Foundation (Grant

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Nos. CMMI-1333825 and CMMI–1333818). The authors also thank Dr. Riddhiman
Bhattacharya for the help related to the impact testing.

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