Effect of graphene oxide–iron oxide hybrid nanocomposite on the high-velocity impact performance of Kevlar fabrics impregnated with nanosilica/polyethylene glycol shear thickening fluid

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of graphene oxide (GO) and GO–Fe₃O₄ hybrid nanocomposite (GFHN) as additives for nanosilica/polyethylene glycol shear thickening fluid (STF) was investigated on the fiber pull-out response and high-velocity impact performance of Kevlar fabrics. To fabricate GFHN nanofillers, the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were linked onto the graphene oxide surfaces using the electrostatic self-assembly method. The GO sheets and GFHN nanofillers were separately incorporated into STF containing fumed silica nanoparticles and the Kevlar fabrics were impregnated with the obtained STF-GO and STF-GFHN nano-mixtures. The pull-out test results of the impregnated Kevlar fabric indicated that the STF-GO nano-mixture decreased while the STF-GFHN nano-mixture increased the friction between the yarns of the impregnated fabric. This was in correlation with the high-velocity impact test results in which the STF-GO nano-mixture deteriorated while the STF-GFHN nano-mixture considerably improved the high-velocity impact resistance of the impregnated Kevlar fabric. The Kevlar fabric impregnated with STF-GFHN nano-mixture containing 0.4 wt% GFHN nanofillers experienced the maximum pull-out force and impact energy absorption with 163% and 73% improvements, respectively, compared to the neat fabric.