Preparation of soft composite reinforced with auxetic warp-knitted spacer fabric for stab resistance

Abstract

Auxetic warp-knitted spacer fabrics have gained increasing interest due to their excellent properties, such as shear resistance, indentation resistance, synclastic curvature and so on. Soft composites made from auxetic warp-knitted spacer fabrics and A/B two-component silicone rubbers were studied in this paper. The stabbing resistance of composites made by different auxetic fabrics (Fabrics 1–4#) and at different filling rates (0%, 20%, 40%, 70%, 100%), respectively, were tested using a universal Material Testing System. The results show that the peak load, energy absorption and deformation displacement of the composites increase with an increase of auxetic performance and filling rate. In addition, a better auxetic effect and larger filling rate can result in less damage. The composites with a higher filling rate are more like an elastomer. The auxetic effect also has an important role in stabbing resistance, which is due to fabrics with a larger negative Poisson's ratio value having a denser face layer structure and more deformable units, which can lead to better stabbing resistance for the composites.