Impact resistant hybrid composites reinforced with inorganic nanoparticles and nanotubes of WS2

Impact resistant nanocomposites are recognized as promising in saving lives in the car, skiing and bicycle accidents, preventing the failure of polymer-based prostheses and orthotic devices, as well as for various defense applications. This research reports improved impact and ballistic resistance of composite materials based on p-aramid fabric impregnated with phenolic resin and poly (vinyl butyral) (PVB), reinforced with small amounts of inorganic fullerene-like nanoparticles of tungsten disulfide (IF-WS2) and multiwall inorganic nanotubes (INT-WS2). The evaluation of the tensile testing resulted in significant improvements in the tensile strength (24.7%) and toughness (64.1%) for the composites with the addition of only 0.3 wt% INT-WS2 nanotubes. The impact toughness increased by 35.8%; the back-face deformation depths after shots were reduced by 12%; the absorbed energy of the knife stab 8.5% higher and the deformation depth 40.4% smaller than for the sample without the nanoreinforcement. The reaction of the composite material to shot impact was recorded by high-speed and infrared camera, to observe heating and cooling rates of the sample caused by dissipation of the kinetic energy of the shots.