New Textiles for Kinetic Absorption and Protection against Chemical and Biological Threats

The objective of TexKap project is creation and testing of textile-based composite material which will combine protection against kinetic treats, meaning shows ballistic properties and protection against most relevant warfare C&B agents. The material is intended to be used as a part of individual soldier protection systems. Evolution of threats, from existing ammunitions referenced in NIJ norms to less conventional IEDs, lead to improve the soldier protection to be better protected as well as keeping its mobility. Special attention should be given to the soldier’s protection against fragmentation effect of IED and other explosives. On the another hand, the protection against C&B threats, provided simultaneously by the same material could be an advantage, especially without significant increasing weight of material and avoiding additional devices to attach for. Despite above, the actual trend pushes the infantry soldier to carry more specific equipment and firearms capacity than protective equipment. Moreover, the combat suit of the soldier must be more convenient and adaptable to different static and dynamic motions, and then lead to reduce its total weight to be more efficient and increase the payload. The textile -based material created in scope of TexKap project provides soldier protection in both areas - acts as ballistic protection and against C&B warfare agents. Special attentions are given also to maintain user’s comfort, including material’s lightweight. Additionally, the developed material show reduced flammability and its surface will be repellent towards highly flammable substances.

The material elaborated in scope of the project will combine protection against kinetic treats, meaning shows ballistic properties and protection against most relevant warfare agents. The protection against biological and chemical threats could be achieved by combination of textured textiles with functional coatings. Ideally, thanks to the coating properties, elaborated material should also act as an active protection and have the ability to neutralize the pathogens and chemicals. One example of proposed solution are water/bio-resorbable transparent inorganic glass coatings which could be tailored according to the employed composition, possessing significant advantage for the C&B agents permeability and ageing of ballistic protection of textile at hostile environments, without the need to be used, until a certain period, but needs to become active after this period. Moreover, the internal and external protective bioactive functional organic coatings grafted by atmospheric plasma will be investigated during the project to enhance protection against biological and chemical threats and to enhance textured material surface by adding super-hydrophobic, oleophobic and anti-bio-fouling coatings, as well with focusing on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), inorganic nanoparticles (e.g., ZnO-based), and organic players such as chitosan (CS) and other polysaccharides-based small-scale particles and plant-derived compounds as bioactive agents. The additional protection line against chemical and biological agents of elaborated material could be nonwovens- inner surface made of micro and nanofibers showing dedicated protective/neutralizing properties being imparted either at the solution stage or after electrospinning process- by surface coatings. Moreover, in scope of TexKap proposal objectives is selection of textile surface finishing/coatings able to act as indicator of certain substances occurrence in the surrounding for early identification of chemical threads (presence of certain substances regarding as C related contamination).