Analyzing the Tensile Behavior of Warp-Knitted Fabric Reinforced Composites Part I: Modeling the Geometry of Reinforcement

Fabrics have been increasingly used as reinforcement of composites. Due to the key role of the reinforcement in the mechanical properties of composites, the structure of warp-knitted fabrics is considered as the first part of a series of studies. Queen’s cord structure is widely used in composite materials because of high stability. Therefore, the structure of Queen’s cord fabrics has been analyzed as reinforcement of warp-knitted reinforced composites. For this purpose, a straight line model has been developed to fulfill the geometry of this kind of fabrics. To verify the generated model, Queen’s cord fabrics in three densities were produced. Dimensional properties i.e. weight per unit area, front bar run-in, back bar run-in and total runin of the produced fabrics were measured and compared with that of the model. The results showed that straight line model is capable of predicting the dimensional properties of this fabric.