Investigation of penetration into woven fabric specimens impregnated with shear thickening fluid

In this paper, the effect of weight fraction of nano silica (hydrophilic fumed silica particles) and molecular mass of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the rheological properties such as the critical shear rate of fluids has been studied. Dynamic moduli based on strain and the effects of increasing the molecular weight are presented. Constructed samples with high-molecular-weight PEG have higher initial, final and critical viscosities. Also, higher molecular chains in the polymer and preventing the movement of most of these chains against the relative motion of liquid (viscosity) will cause higher viscosity in samples. Critical shear rate is lower in the provided samples with high-molecular-weight PEG. Polymer branches in these suspensions are absorbed by the surface of the particles. Due to OH bonds in the silica particles and also due to the presence of this bond in PEG, creating a hydrogen bond is likely. Such a hydrogen bond between the polymer yarn and the particle surface causes surface absorption of the particles. To show the effect of molecular weight on fibers, woven fabric specimens impregnated with shear thickening fluid (STF) have been examined by penetration and pressure test diagrams have been investigated. In a sample with higher molecular weight, displacement to yield point is higher and residence to penetration does not show much difference.