INFLUENCE OF TEXTILE DESIGN PLAN ON THE PERFORMANCE OF 3D WOVEN CARBON/EPOXY COMPOSITES

3D fibre reinforced composites have the potential to reduce delamination, improve through-thickness strength and damage tolerance, the full potential of these materials in the aerospace and automotive industry is yet to be explored. This can be partly attributed to the fact that the manufacturing process of 3D woven composites can be challenging due to the requirement of unfamiliar processes and a limited understanding of the influence of textile weaving parameters on the performance of final 3D woven composites. The structure of the 3D woven composites is predominantly controlled by the textile design plan during the 3D weaving process. A lack of in-depth understanding between the textile design plan and the physical/mechanical performance of 3D woven composites has inspired this investigation. This paper presents a detailed investigation of the influence of two textile design plans for the same architecture on the physical and mechanical properties such as tension, compression, and flexure in 3D layer-to-layer carbon/epoxy woven composites. The two textile design plans (design 1 and design 2) for 3D layer-to-layer architectures were achieved by changing the grouping of warp and binder yarns without modifying the loom set-up, which significantly reduced the manufacturing time and cost. The two designs in 3D woven layer-to-layer architecture were woven with a constant warp density of 12 warps/cm using T700-50C-12k carbon fibres. On the transition from design 1 to design 2 of 3D woven composite, the resin rich areas, tow misalignment and yarn crimp were significantly reduced. The tensile properties were improved by 55% and 37% along warp and weft directions, respectively. The compression properties were improved in the longitudinal direction with a slight deterioration in the transverse direction. This work has helped prove how slight fundamental changes in textile preforms can significantly
change the performance of 3D woven composites without increasing the manufacturing cost and time.