Textile Preforms for Composite Structures

Traditional methods of fibre lay-up for the production of composite structures restrict the fibre placement to two dimensions. Although such structures have good mechanical properties in the plane of the lay-up they are susceptible to damage caused by impact. Placing fibres in the through-thickness direction can improve the structures impact resistance. Techniques such as stitching, weaving, braiding and knitting may be used to achieve such fibre placement. These well developed textile technologies may be used to produce cheap reliable composite structures. This paper presents an overview of the current manufacturing processes for producing textile preforms and the potential uses of these preforms in composite structures for the aerospace industry.