Laminates made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene tape

1. A laminate comprising multiple uni-directional tape plies, each tape ply being fabricated from a plurality of multi-filament tape precursors, each multi-filament tape precursor being formed from at least one ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene gel spun, multi-filament yarn and wherein each multi-filament tape precursor is produced by a process comprising:

a) selecting at least one polyethylene multi-filament yarn, said yarn having a c-axis orientation function of at least 0.96, an intrinsic viscosity when measured in decalin at 135° C. by ASTM D1601-99 of from about 7 dl/g to about 40 dl, g, and said yarn having a tenacity of from about 15 g/d to about 100 g/d as measured by ASTM D2256-02 at a 10 inch (25.4 cm) gauge length and at an extension rate of 100%/min;

b) placing said yarn under a longitudinal tensile force and subjecting said yarn to at least one transverse compression step to flatten, consolidate and compress said yarn at a temperature of from about 25° C. to about 137° C., thereby forming a tape article having an average cross-sectional aspect ratio at least about 10:1, each said compression step having an outset and a conclusion wherein the magnitude of said longitudinal tensile force on each said yarn or tape article at the outset of each said compression step is substantially equal to the magnitude of the longitudinal tensile force on the yarn or tape article at the conclusion of that same compression step, and is at least about 0.25 kilogram-force;

c) stretching said tape article at least once at a temperature in the range of from about 130° C. to about 160° C. at a stretch rate of from about 0.001 min −1 to about 1 min −1 ;

d) optionally repeating step b) one or more times at a temperature from about 100° C. to about 160° C.;

e) optionally repeating step c) one or more times;

f) optionally relaxing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e);

g) optionally increasing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e);

h) cooling said tape article to a temperature less than about 70° C. under tension;

wherein the laminate optionally comprises resin other than the gel spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, wherein said resin comprises not more than five percent by weight of the laminate.

2. The laminate of claim 1 wherein a ratio of a V50 ballistics value in meters per second of the laminate for a 17 grain frag into a test sample having an areal density of one pound per square foot to a tenacity in grams-force per denier of the tape precursor exceeds 17.

3. The laminate of claim 2 wherein the V50 ballistics value exceeds 606 meters per second.

4. The laminate of claim 1 wherein at least some of the multiple tape plies are oriented at angles relative to one another.

5. The laminate of claim 1 wherein the multiple tape plies of the tape are hot-pressed together for consolidation.

6. The laminate of claim 5 wherein, during hot-pressing, the tape plies are subjected to a temperature in excess of 137° C. during consolidation.

7. The laminate of claim 1 wherein said tape article has a tensile strength of at least about 2.2 GPa.

8. The laminate of claim 1 wherein the tape precursor formed from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene gel spun, multi-filament yarns is substantially free of the resin.

9. The laminate of claim 1 wherein the tape precursor formed from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene gel spun, multi-filament yarns has none of the resin.

10. The laminate of claim 9 wherein the resin is applied to at least one side of at least some of the tape precursors.

11. The laminate of claim 1 wherein portions of the yarns of the tape precursor are fused together to bind the yarns together to form the tape precursor.

12. The laminate of claim 1 wherein at least two adjacent tape plies of the multiple tape plies are directly fused together without any of the resin therebetween.

13. The laminate of claim 1 wherein, when a test sample made from the laminate is subjected to a three-point bend test according to ASTM D790 in which the test sample has a width of approximately 12.7 mm and a depth of approximately 7.88 mm and a span of approximate 12.19 cm, the test sample will yield at a stress at yield exceeding 55 MPa.

14. The laminate of claim 1 wherein the laminate exhibits improved high temperature strength over a comparison laminate, wherein the comparison laminate is equivalent to the laminate except that the comparison laminate includes more than 5 weight percent of the resin.

15. A method of making the laminate of claim 1 , the method comprising:

stacking multiple uni-directional tape plies on top of one another, each uni-directional tape ply being formed from a plurality of multi-filament tape precursors, each multi-filament tape precursor being thrilled from at least one ultra-nigh molecular weight polyethylene gel spun, multi-filament yarn; and

applying a heat and a pressure for a duration of time to consolidate the multiple plies of tape into the laminate;

wherein the laminate optionally comprises resin other than the gel spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, wherein said resin comprises not more than five percent by weight of the laminate.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the temperature during consolidation is in excess of 137° C.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the tape precursor is substantially free of the resin.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of applying the resin to at least one side of the tape precursor before stacking the multiple plies of tape on top of one another and wherein, by applying a heat and a pressure for a duration of time to consolidate the multiple plies of tape into the laminate, the resin assists in consolidating the multiple plies of tape together.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein, when a test sample made from the laminate is subjected to a three-point bend test according to ASTM D790 in which the test sample has a width of approximately 12.7 mm and a depth of approximately 7.88 mm and a span of approximate 12.19 cm, the stress at yield for the test sample exceeds 55 MPa.