Functional textiles with desirable protective properties (i.e., high cut‐, stab‐, and abrasion resistance) and wearability (i.e., excellent flexibility and permeability) remain unmet goals for personal protective equipment. Herein, inspired by crocodile skin, a unique and soft‐rigid unified structure (SRUS) is reported by integrating rigid protective blocks onto a soft textile substrate while obtaining a high cut‐, stab‐, and abrasion‐resistant composite textile that is flexible, waterproof, and breathable. Rigid blocks, consisting of epoxy resin reinforced by inorganic powders, strongly adhere to the soft textile surface with small intervals between each other via a pattern‐controllable integrated molding (PCIM) approach. Consequently, the SRUS design guarantees superior protective performance through rigid protective blocks and satisfactory flexibility and permeability via soft textiles and intervals. The SRUS textile achieves excellent cut‐resistance (58 N), the highest grades of stab‐ (38 N) and abrasion‐resistance (600 r mg−1), and good flexibility (65 mN cm) and permeability (60 mm s−1) values, indicating a distinct combination of desirable protective and wearable performance. The proposed SRUS protective textiles, incorporating the PCIM approach, offer a novel strategy for manufacturing functional soft composite textiles that combine high protective performance and good wearability, opening up a new avenue for the development of personal protective equipment.

Soft‐Rigid Unified Structure Textile In article number 2213419, Swee Ching Tan, Songlin Zhang, Yan Ma, and co‐workers developed a composite textile with a soft‐rigid unified structure (SRUS) design inspired by crocodile skin. The SRUS textile combines excellent protective properties and wearing comfort, providing a new approach to personal protective equipment development. The study shows the potential of biomimetic design in creating innovative functional textiles.

This article describes the physical properties, application fields and modification technologies of several commonly used cut-resistant textile raw materials and coating materials, and summarizes and compares and analyzes the current commonly used cut-resistant textile materials evaluation standards: EN420, EN388, ASTM F-1790, ISO13997. Finally, it is pointed out that lightness, softness and comfort are the future research and development directions of cut-resistant textiles. The article provides a preliminary reference for the application and modification of high-performance fibers and coating materials in cut-resistant textiles.

This study prepared a soft-rigid unified structure (SRUS) textile composed of inorganic powder (IP) reinforced epoxy resin block (EIPB) array and a soft textile substrate via a pattern-controllable integrated molding method. The effects of IP content and alumina particle size on the cutting and puncture resistance of the resulting SRUS textile were evaluated. The anti-puncture and anti-cutting mechanisms of the SRUS textile were assessed based on the damage morphology and process. The experimental results demonstrated a significant enhancement in the puncture and cut resistance of the SRUS textile after the addition of IP. Moreover, the cut/stab resistance of the SRUS textile increased with the increase of IP content and the size of Al2O3, and the optimal cut/stab resistance was observed at 60 mesh-50 wt.%. The maximum stab and cut resistance of the SRUS textile increased by approximately 19.2% and 62.1%, respectively, reaching the highest protection level when compared to pure SRUS textile. Additionally, the hard passivation at the EIPB and the friction self-locking at the interval were considered to be the anti-puncture mechanism of the SRUS textile, while the anti-cutting mechanism was attributed to the reverse cutting of hard particles on the blade.

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