Abstract:
First responders and military personnel working under extreme conditions require protection against multiple hazards, including thermal and ballistic protection. However, traditional materials lack multiple types of protection in a single protective layer. By controlling the chemical and structural makeup of high-performance fibers across multiple length scales, this work demonstrates a multifunctional sheet capable of providing simultaneous thermal and ballistic protection. These sheets are composed of long, continuous fibers to resist a mechanical load and large pores to limit heat transfer. By combining these structure-function properties, these fibers overcome traditional trade-offs, providing mechanical performance equivalent to commercially available ballistic fibers while providing 20-fold insulation capability. Overcoming previous limitations, this approach enables simultaneous thermal and mechanical protection for astronauts, bomb disposal experts, and warfighters.