TexKap - New Textiles for Kinetic Absorption and Protection against Chemical and Biological Threats
The TexKap project aims at developing a new protective garment with added protection against kinetic and C&B threats. Ghent University research focuses on addressing the ergonomics and comfort of this new textile, addressing the effect on wearer’s mobility and wellbeing.
The objective of the TexKap project is the creation and testing of a new textile-based composite material which will combine the protection against kinetic threats (ballistic protection) and against the most relevant C&B agents. The material is intended to be used as part of an individual soldier protection system. The evolution of threats on the battlefield leads to the need for improvement in the soldier's defence system.
The current trend to protect the soldier is to provide more specific equipment and tools to the troops, but this approach adds encumbrance to the soldiers’ gear thus impacting negatively on mobility. TexKap, with the introduction of a composite material resistant to both kinetic and C&B threats, aims to reduce both bulk and weight of the protection system, thus increasing soldiers’ freedom of movement. The focus of Ghent University research is the analysis of the ergonomic comfort of the new textile. Various tasks and technologies will be analysed to develop a protocol capable of objectively evaluating how the garment impacts soldier movement and actions. This will allow for the identification of key garment parameters that can be optimized to enhance the wearer performance and comfort.
The research at Ghent University is a collaboration between the Centre for Textile Science and Engineering (CTSE) and the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences.
Further information
Acknowledgments
The project is funded by the European Defence Agency (EDA).
Ghent University cooperates in the project with: ANDROPOL, Citeve, Fibrenamics, Inegi, Rina, HOGENT, Seyntex, PDOT, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Politecnico di Torino, University of Maribor, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI).
Contact
Prof. dr. ir. Lieva Van Langenhove (Lieva.VanLangenhove@UGent.be)