Development of cost-effective and high-performance penetration resistant materials and gloves

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Personal protective equipment (PPE) and wearables such as gloves are used in a wide range of occupations including law enforcement, military, food processing, manufacturing, resource extraction and healthcare. The global body armor and PPE market was worth about US$3.8 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase to US$5.3 billion by 2024. The high cost of these materials, expensive manufacturing processes and significant investments needed in research and development of new materials have been cited as growth rate limiting factors in a recent market research report. Wearables that prevent penetration of sharp objects represent a significant part of the PPE market. Development of materials that provide high penetration resistance while maintaining flexibility, is a key challenge in this field. In this proposal, we will develop a class of materials that will provide such a combination of properties. We will use nanoparticle composites made of high concentration of hard nanofillers in elastomers and elastic-jamming phenomenon to achieve this goal. The aims of the proposal include (1) Understanding the phenomenon of elastic jamming and its characterization, (2) design and development high performance nanocomposites, (3) materials characterization and evaluating the performance of the nanocomposite structures. First and foremost, the project will also advance scientific understanding of elastic jamming phenomenon, failure and damage evolution of nanocomposites, and particle-laden elastomeric materials under impact. This project is in collaboration with our industrial partner RONCO who has taken a keen interest in the development and commercialization of this technology. RONCO will license and commercialize the technology and bring new products to the international PPE market that will create employment opportunities in manufacturing of high technology personal protective materials in Canada. Finally, the project will also create highly trained and qualified personnel in the areas of nanocomposite material formulation, impact materials testing and characterization and in smart textiles and gloves, areas where the need for expertise is growing both in Canada and abroad.