JOURNAL OF

COMPOSITE
M AT E R I A L S

Article

Manufacturing of single-piece textile

reinforced riot helmet shell from vacuum
bagging

Journal of Composite Materials

47(19) 23432351
! The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0021998312457703
jcm.sagepub.com

Bilal Zahid1 and Xiaogang Chen2

Abstract
The proposed research aims to develop a novel technique for the creation of composite riot helmet shells with
reinforcing fibre continuity for better protection against low-velocity impacts. In this research paper, an innovative,
simple and effective method of making a single-piece continuous textile reinforced helmet shell using vacuum bagging has
been established and discussed. This technique also includes the development of solid collapsible moulding apparatus
from nonwoven fibres. Angle-interlock fabric, due to its good mouldability, low shear rigidity and ease of production,
is used in this research. Several wrinkle-free single-piece composite riot helmet shells have been manufactured.

Keywords
Riot helmet shell, composites, mouldability, nonwoven, shear rigidity, angle-interlock fabric

Introduction
Helmet shells with continuous reinforcement led to
better protection against trauma impact on the head.
This is a new area for research and not much direct
literature has been published on the theoretical and
practical investigations on riot police helmet shells.1,2
The main purpose of helmets is to protect the wearer
from various types of external impacts. Injury to the
head can cause symptoms such as skull deformation
and brain contusions.3 The inertial eects can also
cause problems such as cerebra-concussion, i.e. a
small movement of the brain due to a relative movement of skull and xed membranes, and there may be
damage to the tissues as well. These eects can lead to
loss of function or physical disruption of neural tissues
and the victim may suer traumatic eects.
Head protection is one of the most important needs
for the police ocers who are vulnerable to thrown
objects. In order to control the crowd, the police use
dierent techniques and strategies. For personal safety,
police ocers usually wear body armour, helmets, face
shields, and limb protectors. There were approximately
40,000 helmets used throughout the United Kingdom
in 2003.2 There is an annual demand of approximately
12,000 riot helmets for the police in the United
Kingdom.4 Every tactical ocer who is trained for

public order duties has a helmet as one of the items

of protective equipment. The requirements for the helmets usually include eective protection against impact,
light weight, wear comfort, and cost eectiveness.

Background and research aim

Roedel and Chen1,2 investigated continuous textile reinforced helmet shells aiming to avoid bre discontinuity
in the helmet shells. They manufactured throughthe-thickness angle-interlock (AI) Kevlar woven fabric
and moulded it into a helmet shape using a positive
moulding method. The riot helmet shells were produced2 using a hand lay-up technique in which matrix
material was brushed on the draped fabric. There are
always some constraints to composites made from hand
painted matrices such as uneven resin content, possibility of air bubbles in the composite, and unequal bre
volume fraction within a helmet shell. Therefore, there
1
Textile Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering and
Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
2
The University of Manchester, M139PL, United Kingdom

Corresponding author:
Bilal Zahid, Textile Engineering Department, NED University of
Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Email: drbilalzahid@neduet.edu.pk

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

2344

Journal of Composite Materials 47(19)

is a need to develop a new technique for the manufacture of single-piece fabric-reinforced riot helmet shell
and this is one of the target areas for the present
research.
The present research aims to innovate a novel technique for manufacturing composite riot helmet shells
with reinforcing textile bre continuity. It also includes
establishment of a procedure for the manufacturing of
riot helmet shells. It will also provide guidance to the
future practical production process for the industry.

According to the understanding developed, following

necessary requirements were required in order to
create single-piece helmet shells using the vacuum bagging technique.

Manufacturing of AI fabric

Fabrication of a 3D mould from nonwoven

glass fibre

Chen5 dened AI fabric as one of the methods of

making 3-dimensional (3D) fabrics in which the weft
yarns remain straight and the warp yarns travel diagonally as shown in Figure 1. Due to the good inherent
mouldable properties of AI fabrics, Chen suggests it for
the use in making helmet shells.7
In the current study, through the thickness AI
fabric has been used and manufactured on conventional shuttle loom Arbon 100 W made by Adolf
SaurerTM. Kevlar (Aramid) roving type 49 supplied
by DuPontTM is used in both warp and weft yarns.
The properties of the Kevlar are listed in Table 1.8

Creation of single-piece helmet shell from

vacuum bagging
No research work has been published on making
single-piece riot helmet shells by vacuum bagging.

1. A mould was required.

2. A method of fabric draping on mould was necessary.
3. A procedure for the manufacturing of single-piece
helmet shells had to be developed.

Making of 3D shape using vacuum bagging is a dicult

and dierent procedure. Based on the understandings
of vacuum bagging for making composite panels, a few
basic guidelines have to be developed, before nalising
a procedure for manufacturing single-piece helmet
shells using vacuum bagging. The development of the
composite helmet from vacuum bagging requires a
mould. However, required mould should have the following characteristics:
. Solid mould: in vacuum bagging, resin ows wherever it has the least resistance. So for making helmets
shells, the mould should be a solid structure.
Otherwise, there will be an accumulation of resin
inside the hollow mould causing diculties in
removing the helmet shell o the mould.
. Correct dimensions of mould: riot helmet shells are
composite structures with variable curvatures. So,
the desired helmet shell inner curvature should be
exactly similar to the mould outer surface
curvatures.
. Draping processes and edge formation: fabrics
should be able to be draped over the mould without
diculty. The necessary arrangement should be

Figure 1. Cross-section of through-the-thickness AI-fabric.6

Table 1. Properties of Kevlar-49 with comparison to

Kevlar-29
Property
3

Density (g/cm )
Tensile Modulus (GPa)
Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

Kevlar 29

Kevlar 49

1.44
70.50
2920

1.44
112.40
3000

Figure 2. Finishing process of glass fibre mould.

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

Zahid and Chen

2345
carried out in order to form a proper edge for the
helmet shell on the mould.
. Removal of a cured helmet shell o the mould: the
mould should be developed in such a way that after
curing, the helmet shell should be removable easily
in a single-piece. Therefore, a collapsible mechanism
needs to be designed for the mould.

Figure 3. Fabric on mould ready for conforming.

Mould was prepared from chopped glass bres and a

mixture of Araldite LY5052 and Aradur HY5052 as
epoxy and hardener, respectively, in the ratio of
100:38 by weight.9 The glass bre mould was fabricated
by embedding and layering bres on the inner side of an
original helmet shell. Three embedded parts with xing
mechanism were fabricated for the easy removal of
helmet shell o the mould. A metallic stand was also
fabricated in order to hold the mould. Helmet mould
edges were grinded by a at grinder and the irregular
outer surface of the mould was further evened by means
of plastic padding. After achieving the desired shape
and even surface, glass bre mould was then painted
to give a more nished look. The glass bre mould was
developed in three solid parts with the middle one
having slightly tapered sides. This was done for easy
removal of the helmet shell o the mould. Moreover,
the three pieces of mould were fastened together with

Figure 4. Top view of conformed fabric.

Figure 5. Conformed fabric held by clips.

Figure 6. Vacuum-assisted draping.

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

2346

Journal of Composite Materials 47(19)

Figure 7. Post vacuum-assisted draping technique (VADT) views (a) Side (b) Back (c) Front (d) Top.

Figure 8. Riot helmet shell manufacturing using the vacuum bagging method.

big size bolts. Fabricated mould pieces can be seen

in Figure 2.

Draping process
In the current study, the helmet shell fabrication technique involves a series of steps namely: fabric draping,
edge formation, vacuum bagging, and removal of the
shell o the mould. The prime objective was to constrain the fabric over the mould without any wrinkle
formation and to use vacuum bagging to form a cured
single-piece helmet shell.
The helmet shell was made in mainly two stages: rst
the draping process and second the vacuum bagging.
For optimal results, these two stages are related to each
other in such a way that the careful measures adopted
in the draping process ends up with better results in the
vacuum bagging.
Minimisation of fabric usage is important. For that
purpose, an exact outer perimeter from the front edge

Figure 9. Placement of mould on front edge.

to the back bottom edge of the mould was measured

and the desired amount of fabric length was cut in the
warp direction. The trimmed fabric and the edge were
xed with adhesives in order to prevent ripping o the

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

Zahid and Chen

2347

Figure 10. (a) Two inlet valves and (b) Single inlet valve.

Figure 11. Different varieties of infusion mesh (a) flexible and (b) rigid.

yarns. The fabric placed on the mould is shown

in Figure 3.

Primary draping technique

The fabric was draped onto the mould surface by
decreasing the fabric area to a maximum extent
through shearing and allowing the fabric to be sheared
and conformed to the mould surface with no wrinkles.
The mould surface was subdivided into four sections as
shown in Figure 4. The fabric in each section was
draped. The fabric was xed at the front top edge
and back edge of the middle part of the mould with
the help of fold-back clips. In the process draping, the
AI fabric was kept tensioned in the warp direction on
the mould surface. The fabric on the mould was draped
by giving maximum shear at any position of the fabric
to conform on the mould surface. Fold-back clips were
used in order to constrain the fabric at the edges of the
mould. Similarly, fabric in all the mould sections was
draped using the same procedure.
The intention while draping was to have a smoothly
draped fabric. Although, wrinkles were produced due

to excessive fabric shearing, however, these wrinkles

were removed by realigning the yarn paths in the
fabric and directing them toward the non-conform portions. The conformed AI fabric over the mould surface
is shown in Figure 5.

Secondary vacuum-assisted draping technique

The objective of draping was to obtain a wrinkle-free
single-piece helmet shell having proper edges. A challenge in vacuum bagging was to hold the fabric until
curing was completed, on the developed mould inside
the vacuum bag. A new technique for impregnating
textile composites with curved surfaces, named as
vacuum-assisted draping technique (VADT) was
developed. In VADT, the fabric was draped onto the
mould and the shell edge was resin impregnated and
then cured under vacuum at the same time. Due to
VADT, it is observed that there is no wrinkle formation
while resin infusion of complete helmet shell and also
VADT furnish proper shell edges that can be shaped
easily. The complete setup of the VADT is shown
in Figure 6.

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

2348

Journal of Composite Materials 47(19)

Figure 12. (a) Uniform infusion and (b) H-clip.

Figure 7 shows post VADT views of draped dry AI

fabric on the mould. Due to the VADT, the edges of the
draped fabric were locked exactly in the same conditions as happened in the vacuum bag. It was observed
that there was no wrinkle formation while the resin was
infusing at the edge of the complete helmet shell.
VADT furnish a proper shell edge which can be
shaped before putting the mould in the vacuum bag.

Novel technique for the creation of

single-piece riot helmet shells
Vacuum bagging is an inexpensive and versatile process
which is also known as the bag moulding process. In
vacuum bagging, suction is applied to the bag to
remove excess air and to improve impregnation of the
fabric through resin infusion. Based on the authors
knowledge, no-one has previously used vacuum bagging for making single-piece riot helmet shells.
The complete setup of vacuum bagging achieved in
the laboratory is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 13. Bridging of vacuum film.

Optimisation in making helmet shell through vacuum

bagging
Araldite LY 5052 was mixed with a hardener Aradur
5052 in the ratio of 100:38 by weight.9 The dierent
parameters optimised for achieving fully impregnated
cured helmet shells are discussed.

Figure 14. Mould placed on wooden blocks.

1. Placement of inlet valve and mould position: the

position of the inlet valve was one of the most
important factors in the creation of riot helmet
shells by vacuum bagging. Impregnation of the
AI-fabric was performed by infusing resin from the
top of the mould. The purpose was to impregnate

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

Zahid and Chen

2349

the fabric on the mould and also due to the mould

geometry; the mould was placed in the vacuum bagging tool on the front mould edge instead of the
bottom mould edge as shown in Figure 9.
2. Uses of multiple inlets: in order to cover the area of
mould surface, two inlet valves were implanted. It
was observed that one inlet valve can impregnate
the fabric completely as with two infusion inlets
for this particular size of mould as shown in
Figure 10(a and b). One inlet valve was used to
impregnate the draped fabric.
3. Use of dierent infusion meshes: two varieties of
infusion meshes were used (exible and rigid)
as shown in Figure 11(a and b), respectively.

Figure 15. Dismantling of mould.

Soft infusion mesh has better drapeable qualities.

Therefore, the softer infusion mesh was used and
recommended due to the better mouldable properties than with the hard infusion mesh.
4. Flow of resin: long pot-life Araldite LY 5052 and
Aradur 5052 matrix makes more feasible to use this
approach for manufacturing big objects.9 In order to
take advantage of long pot-life matrix, the infusion
was carried out in such a way that small quantities of
matrix per minute were fed into the vacuum bag.
The ow of resin was controlled by an H-clip as
can be seen in Figure 12(a). In this way, complete
impregnation of the draped fabric from top to
bottom of the mould was achieved. The reason for
infusing the matrix from the top of the mould was
that it allows even distribution throughout the
helmet mould as can be seen in Figure 12(b).
5. Base of mould: the maximum area of the mould
having preform and vacuum bagging lm
should stick to the mould, otherwise while
bridging wrongly, wet out at those areas will not
occur. Bridging of the vacuum lm is shown
in Figure 13.

Improper bridging initially was observed when the

mould was placed on the tool on its front top mould
edge. Small wooden blocks were made and used to lift
the mould from the tool for about 2.5 cm. By raising
the mould, the mould was then placed on the wooden
blocks instead of on its edge. Due to the space created
beneath the mould, the vacuum bagging lm rmly
stuck to the bottom edge of the mould with the correct
bridging as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 16. (a) Developed single-piece riot helmet shell and (b) finished look of developed single-piece riot helmet shell.

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

2350

Journal of Composite Materials 47(19)

Curing of riot helmet shell

To further enhance the shell stiness, helmet shells were
further cured in the drying oven for 4 h at 100 C as
suggested by the resin manufacturer.9
The complete riot helmet shell can be seen
in Figure 16.
A ow chart summarises the sequence for making
riot helmet shells as shown in Figure 17.

Conclusion
The important achievement in this paper is the development of a successful method for making single-piece
riot helmet shell from AI fabric using the vacuum bagging process. A nonwoven glass bre mould has been
developed. The mould contains a collapsible and xable
mechanism for easy removal of the shell from the
mould. Further, VADT have been established which
provide wrinkle-free draping of AI fabric on the
helmet mould. This technique can be used to drape
mouldable fabric onto a mould for vacuum bagging.
Finally, composite riot helmet shells were successfully
produced. A detailed procedure for making single-piece
riot helmet shells has been discussed.
The technique developed for the manufacturing of
single-piece riot helmet shells can be used for the development of dierent varieties of bi-curvature composite
structures and almost any shape of composite helmet
shells can be developed.
Funding
This study was nancially supported by NED University of
Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.

Figure 17. Flow chart of single-piece riot helmet shell

manufacturing.

Conflict of Interest
None declared.

References

Removal of shell off the mould

After 1416 h of initial curing at room temperature as
suggested by the resin manufacturer,9 the vacuum bag
was peeled-o and the AI fabric resulting in a sti composite structure. The bolts used to connect the three
pieces of the mould were removed in order to collapse
the mould. The middle part of the mould was pulled
out with no trouble from the mould and then the other
two parts of the mould were collapsed and removed.
Dismantling of the mould can be viewed in Figure 15.

1. Roedel C and Chen X. Innovation and analysis of police

riot helmets with continuous textile reinforcement for
improved protection. J Inform Comput Sci 2007; 2:
127136.
2. Roedel C. Innovation and analysis of police riot helmets
with continuous textile reinforcement for improved protection, in school of materials. PhD Thesis, The University of
Manchester, UK, 2008.
3. Ryan GA. Improving head protection for cyclists, motorcyclists, and car occupants. World J Surg 1992; 16:
398402.
4. Malbon C. Private communication with project manager Police Protection HOSDB UK, 2008.

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

Zahid and Chen

2351

5. Chen X. CAD/CAM of 3D Woven Fabrics

for Conventional Looms. In: First World Conference on
3D Fabric and their Technical Applications, Manchester,
2008. Available at: http://www.texeng.co.uk/3D_2008/
conference.html.
6. TexEng. http://www.texeng.co.uk/angleinterlock.html (2010,
accessed 2011).
7. Chen X, Lo W-Y, Tayyar AE and Day RJ. Mouldability
of angle-interlock woven fabrics for technical applications.
Text Res J 2002; 72(3): 195200.

8. Kevlar. Technical guide Kevlar Aramid Fiber. Available at:

http://www2.dupont.com/Kevlar/en_US/assets/downloads/
KEVLAR_Technical_Guide.pdf (2011, accessed 2011).
9. Huntsman. http://www.huntsman.com [Online]. Huntsman
International LLC. (2010, accessed 2011).

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016

Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com by SYED ZAMEER UL HASSAN on April 1, 2016