Prediction Method of Internal Structure for Designing Braided Composites

Abstract

Braided fabrics are one of typical textiles along with woven fabrics and knitted fabrics. The schematic image of braided fabrics was shown in Fig.1. Braided fabrics were composed of a lot of yarns which oriented diagonally called braiding yarns (BY). And yarns called middle-endyarns (MEY) can be inserted into braiding yarns along the longitudinal direction. As materials for braiding yarns and middle-end-yarns, various kinds of fibers, such as glass fiber, carbon fiber and aramid fiber, can be used. One of the important features of braided fabrics is the capability to change the orientation angle of braiding yarns called braiding angle (at ±θ degrees to longitudinal direction). Braiding angle can be changed freely as shown in Fig.2. In addition, another unique feature of braided fabrics is the continuity of all fibers. All fibers are continuously oriented from one end to the other end and subjected to forces evenly. Therefore braided fabrics have been expected to be excellent preforms for reinforcements of composite materials with excellent mechanical properties, and it enables to produce excellent structural parts according to various kinds of requirements.