About 3D Fabrics

These are the fabrics in which yarn runs through the braid in all three directions, formed by inter-plaiting three orthogonal sets of yarn. The fiber architecture of three-dimensional braided fabrics provides high strength, stiffness, and structural integrity, making them suitable for a wide array of applications. Three dimensional (3D) textile preforms have been developed by using different manufacturing techniques like weaving, knitting, braiding, stitching, and non-woven manufacturing. Among these manufacturing techniques, sewing and 3D weaving are the promising technologies which address the shortcomings of the stack-reinforced composites. 3D fabrics can also be defined as “a single-fabric system, the constituent yarns of which are supposedly disposed in a three mutually perpendicular plane relationship”. According to Chen, structures that have substantial dimension in the thickness direction formed by layers of fabrics or yarns, generally termed as the three-dimensional (3D) fabrics. In 3D woven fabrics, generally multilayer, angle interlock and orthogonal weave architectures are the most widely used weave structures. While multilayer and angle interlock weave structures can be produced with conventional 2D weaving machines especially with shuttle looms, orthogonal weave architecture needs a special designed 3D weaving machine to be produced.