Textiles for military clothing face a complex set of challenges. They must provide protection, durability and comfort in a wide range of hostile environments. The general requirements of military textiles include damage resistance, comfort, sweat management, cold-weather conditions and the integration of high-tech materials into uniforms. This paper discusses the main concepts regarding the application of textiles in military uses, where the surrounding environments such as desert, jungle or extremely cold areas as well as the nature of the situations involved pose a threat to the soldier’s safety. Therefore, the improvement and development of fibrous materials, textile structures and finishing processes can bring new perspectives for saving lives.

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact behavior on the basis of energy approach of weft knitted structures, namely a jersey composite and an auxetic composite using high performance yarns. Weft knitted fabrics were produced with the same structural and machine parameters, using 100% para-aramid and hybrid (47% para-aramid and 53% polyamide) structure. Composite fabrication was achieved through hand lay-up using epoxy resin. Negative Poisson ratio of the reinforcing auxetic fabric was transferred from the fabric to the composite developed. Results obtained by drop weight dart impact test show that the impact experiment with different impact loads confirmed the auxetic composites, regardless de material composition, have an increase in the total energy absorption compared to jersey reinforced composite, approximately 2.5 and 4 times more for para-aramid and hybrid composite, respectively. Auxetic composites developed within this work present great potential for applications in different areas, mainly where energy absorption is a key factor to be considered, such as in protection, sports among others.