Recent progress in developing ballistic and anti-impact materials: Nanotechnology and main approaches

With increasing international and civilian conflicts, developing advanced body armor has become an emerging field in academia and industry. Nanotechnology, by means of, incorporating nanomaterials, is considered a highly effective technique to achieve this goal. It has been widely studied in defense applications owing to high strength-to-weight ratios and excellent energy absorption capability of nanomaterials. Hence, this review encompasses the latest application of nanotechnology involving nanomaterials and nanocomposites in ballistic and anti-impact fields. Additionally, this paper outlines fiber materials utilized, and alternative approaches adopted to develop robust non-metal bullet-proof materials. These approaches include shear thickening fluids (STFs) incorporation, sandwich structures, polymer matrix composites (PMCs), and textile structure optimization. Meanwhile, ballistic-related performances of various materials developed using single or hybrid techniques are collected and compared.