Through-thickness stitching, in the form of tufting, has been shown to be a potentially successful method of improving resistance to delamination. Tufting is a single sided stitching technique that involves the insertion of a yarn through a fabric, in the z-direction. However, further research into the development of a tailored tufting yarn could yield a greater improvement of the mechanical properties of the overall composite. Dissimilar to other published works which rely on commercially available materials, this study examines the use of four thermoplastic yarns produced from: polyetheretherketone, polysulfone, polyethersulfone and polyphenylsulfone. Their ability to be tufted into a composite and their influence on the overall composites' mechanical properties was examined.
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