Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Composite Essentials

 Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:

Composite Essentials

Let's learn more about the different weave patterns in woven fabrics!

Woven fabrics are woven yarns, rovings, or tows in mat form in a single layer, in which the amount of fiber in different directions is controlled by the weave pattern. The most common are Plain, Twill and Harness Satin! 

In a plain-weave pattern, fibers in 0° and 90° directions are equally distributed. A plain weave carbon fiber sheet looks symmetrical with a small checkerboard style appearance. In this weave the tows are woven in an over/under pattern. 

In a twill weave, the tow strand passes over a set number of tows and then under the same number of tows. The over/under pattern creates a diagonal arrowhead look, known as a “twill line”. 2×2 Twill is likely the most recognizable carbon fiber weave in the industry. It is used in many cosmetic and decorative applications, but also has great functionality, it has both moderate formability and moderate stability. As the 2×2 name implies, each tow will pass over 2 tows then under two tows.

The number in the Harness Satin names indicates the total number of tows passed over then under. For 4HS, it will pass over 3 tows then under 1. For 5HS, it will pass over 4 then under 1, and 8HS will pass over 7 and under 1. Common harness satin weaves are 4 harness satin (4HS), 5­ harness satin (5HS) and 8 harness satin (8HS). As you increase the number of the satin weave, formability will increase and fabric stability will decrease. 

In this picture you can see how the weaving process can yield many different patterns! 

Bibliographical Reference:

Composite Manufacturing - Materials, Product and Process Engineering - Page 54

Elevated Materials Article "Carbon Fiber Weaves: What they are and why to use them"

Source:managingcomposites/thenativelab