Stab and ballistic resistant articles and the process of making
Dimensionally stable open woven fabrics formed from a plurality of high tenacity warp elongate bodies interwoven and bonded with a plurality of transversely disposed, high tenacity weft elongate bodies, composite articles formed therefrom, and to a continuous process for forming the composite articles.
1. A process for forming a dimensionally stable open fabric, the process comprising:
a) providing a woven fabric comprising a plurality of warp elongate bodies interwoven and bonded with a plurality of transversely disposed weft elongate bodies, said warp elongate bodies and weft elongate bodies each comprising thermoplastic high tenacity elongate bodies having a tenacity of at least about 14 g/denier and a tensile modulus of at least about 300 g/denier, wherein adjacent warp elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the warp elongate bodies and adjacent weft elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other by a distance equivalent to at least about 10% of the width of the weft elongate bodies;
b) at least partially melting the thermoplastic polymer of the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and/or the high tenacity weft elongate bodies; and
c) allowing the melted thermoplastic polymer of the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and/or the high tenacity weft elongate bodies to solidify, whereby the high tenacity warp elongate bodies and the high tenacity weft elongate bodies are bonded to each other, thereby forming a dimensionally stable open fabric.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein adjacent warp elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other at their nearest longitudinal edges by more than 1 mm and adjacent high tenacity weft elongate bodies are spaced apart from each other at their nearest longitudinal edges by more than 1 mm.
3. The process of claim 1 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise polyolefin fibers.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise polyethylene fibers.
5. The process of claim 4 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise multifilament polyolefin tapes.
7. The process of claim 6 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise multifilament polyethylene tapes.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein each of said warp elongate bodies and said weft elongate bodies comprise multifilament ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene tapes.