Yarn pull-out behavior of plain woven Kevlar fabrics: Effect of yarn sizing, pullout rate, and fabric pre-tension

The yarn pull-out behavior of greige and scoured plain woven Kevlar fabrics was studied under various combinations of yarn pull-out speed and fabric pre-tension. Warp yarns showed higher pullout forces than the fill yarns. The pullout forces increased with increasing fabric pre-tension levels and decreased with increasing pull-out speeds. The variability in pull-out forces were generally higher for the dynamic pull-out forces compared to the static forces, generally higher at lower pull-out speeds, and generally higher for the greige fabrics compared to the scoured fabrics. These results indicate that the inter-yarn friction characteristics of woven Kevlar fabrics are sensitive to the yarn sizing, pull-out rates, as well as fabric pre-tension which have implications on the ballistic impact response of these Kevlar fabrics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.