Determination of performance characteristics of spacer fabric vehicle covers

Hailstorms today have the potential to damage almost every object in their path. Efforts are been made to prevent hailstorms, which can be quite severe. However, a completely successful result has not been achieved. Automobiles are the ones most damaged by hailstorms. In order to protect automobiles from this damage, various protective fabrics have been studied on and patents have been obtained. Spacer fabrics are one of the materials that have the potential to be used as protectors. In this study, an experimental device that can test the performance of spacer fabrics against hail and simulate hail damage has been designed and manufactured. At the same time, suggestions for the preparation of artificial hail grains that can be used in different studies are presented. With 25 mm and 30 mm diameter artificial hail grains, experiments were carried out on spacer fabrics of different thicknesses with the same weave structure. The same diameters of artificial hail grains were also tested without covering and the amount of damage in all experiments was measured. As a result, it was compared which fabric provided how much protection against artificial hailstones of different diameters.