Carbon nanotube-based soft body armor: Advancements, integration strategies, and future prospects.

The focus on advancing armor systems, combining enhanced ballistic resistance properties with reduced weight, has gained considerable attention as nations recognize the need to fortify sophisticated self-defense mechanisms against prospective military confrontations and threats. The evolving landscape of protective body armor necessitates innovative materials that combine flexibility with high-strength performance. This review article delves into the advancements and potential of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based soft body armor materials, assessing their structural, mechanical, and protective properties. Beginning with an overview of the unique characteristics of CNTs that make them promising candidates for soft armor applications, the paper scrutinizes the incorporation of CNTs via different techniques to prepare composites for ballistic protection. These methods includes dispersion of CNTs within polymer matrix to impregnate ballistic fabrics, interleaving of CNTs macroform in between the layers of fibers, growth of CNTs over the surface of fabrics, and CNTs based fabrics. Additionally, the review highlights recent experimental studies and computational models, providing insight into the initial and residual velocity, absorbed energy, ballistic limit, and back face deformation characteristics of armor materials incorporating CNTs. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis of the challenges, such as scalability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental concerns associated with CNTs integration, is presented. By consolidating insights from diverse research endeavors, this review aims to offer a comprehensive insight into CNTs-based soft body armors, elucidating their potential to redefine the future of protective materials for both defense and civilian applications. [Display omitted] • Inter yarn friction is crucial to improve impact resistance of soft body armors. • Introducing various techniques for incorporating CNTs in soft body armors • Improvement in impact performance of body armors on incorporating CNTs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]