Performance of weft-knitted glass fibre fabric composites with respect to impact damage resistance and tolerance

摘要

Only limited information is currently available towards the understanding on the structure-property relationships of the knitted textile composites in relation to their impact and compression-after-impact properties. This paper dealt with the impact resistance and tolerance of composite materials manufactured from weft-knitted E-glass fabrics. Three different styles of the weft-knit structures, Milano, lx1 rib and plain knit, were investigated. The effect of the weft-knitted fabric style and the fabric structural parameters upon the impact and compression-after-impact properties of the weft-knitted composites was examined and the damage morphology and failure mechanisms of impacted materials were characterised. It has been found that both changes to the knit style and structural parameters affected the damage resistance and tolerance of the composites.