Growing ZnO nanowires on aramid fabric for improving the ultraviolet aging property

Aramid fiber is commonly used for ballistic vests because of its excellent mechanical properties. However, it has a drawback in that the fiber force deteriorates under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. It is proposed in this paper to grow ZnO nanowires on aramid fabric through the hydrothermal method for improving its UV aging properties. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses illustrate that there is some damage to the N-H and C-N chemical bonds for bare aramid fabric after UV irradiation, although no significant damage is shown by scanning electron microscopy observation. For fabrics subject to 120 h UV irradiation, the warp and weft tensile force of bare fabric decrease by 38.44% and 18.15%, respectively. However, the warp and weft tensile force of fabric with ZnO nanowires increase by 275.52% and 164.84%, respectively, and remain at 241.67% and 197.13% after UV irradiation, respectively. In addition, the burst force of bare fabric decreases over by 50% due to the UV irradiation. Nevertheless, with ZnO nanowires, the burst force of aramid fabric increases dramatically and the increase percentage is over 200%. Even after the UV irradiation, the burst force of fabric with nanowires still retains almost 30% over the bare fabric.