Mechanical properties of composite materials made of 3D stitched woven-knitted preforms

摘要

This article presents an experimental investigation carried out to understand themechanical behavior of composite materials made of 3D stitched woven-knitted basaltfabrics. The innovative preforms used consist of two outer layers of a plain woven fabriccombined with two inner layers of weft-knitted fabrics. The weft-knitted fabrics selectedfor the study were varied plain knit, 1 × 1 rib, Milano, and interlock. The fabric layerswere stitched together with Kevlar yarns. These 3D stitched preforms were impregnatedwith polyester resin using resin transfer molding, and the corresponding compositesobtained were tested under tensile, bending, and impact loads. The results obtainedshow that the type of knitted structure significantly influences the mechanicalperformance of the 3D stitched woven-knitted composites. The composite usinginterlock structure as the inner layers has the best results concerning energy absorptionand tensile strength. The varied plain knit structure has proved to be the best suited toimpart stiffness as it provides the highest Young’s modulus among the above fourknitted structures.