3D Fabric Weaving Through-Thickness Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing 3D fabric items with profiled beam-like structures fail to integrate webs and flanges with different fabric architectures, leading to delamination and inadequate mechanical performance due to the absence of mutual through-thickness connections between yarns, resulting in unreliable and inefficient composite materials.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for producing 3D fabric items by interlacing warps and wefts to create an interacting woven fabric that penetrates through a pre-produced complementary fabric, forming a mutual through-thickness connection at their junctions, allowing for the integration of different fabric architectures and enhancing structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If indirect production methods (stitching/joining different fabrics or folding/bending sections) are used to create profiled beam-like 3D fabric items, then manufacturing flexibility and ease of production are improved, but structural integrity and delamination resistance deteriorate due to the absence of mutual through-thickness connections between web and flange yarns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the web and flange sections into a single integrated woven structure where yarns from both sections interlace with each other through mutual through-thickness connections. This merging eliminates the need for separate stitching or joining operations while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through coordinated yarn feeding and weaving mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from two-dimensional fabric layers to three-dimensional interlaced structure by establishing through-thickness connections between web and flange yarns. The yarns extend in multiple dimensions and intersect mutually, creating a volumetric integrated structure that provides superior delamination resistance while being produced through a weaving process that operates in three-dimensional space.
2Reliability
If different fabric architectures (woven and braided structures) are used for web and flange sections, then mechanical performance and functionality are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases due to the inability to integrate different architectural constructions in existing methods
Solution Approach 1:
The weaving apparatus is designed with multi-functional capabilities to handle different yarn types and architectural requirements within a single weaving cycle. The system can simultaneously process yarns intended for woven structures and yarns for braided structures, integrating them into a unified 3D fabric item with mutual through-thickness connections, thereby eliminating the need for separate manufacturing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the yarn feed system and weaving mechanisms into distinct modules that can independently control different yarn groups. This segmentation allows different fabric architectures to be created in different sections (web and flange) while still achieving integration through the mutual interlacing of yarns in the weaving process, managing complexity through modular design.
3Reliability
If profiled beam-like 3D fabric items are produced with integrated web and flange sections, then delamination resistance is improved, but the requirement for mutual through-thickness connections increases manufacturing difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The weaving process is designed to automatically create mutual through-thickness connections between web and flange yarns through the inherent interlacing mechanism of weaving. The yarns self-organize and interlock during the weaving process without requiring additional joining operations or complex post-processing steps, as the weaving mechanism itself facilitates the through-thickness integration.
Data Source
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AI summary
A novel add-on weaving method, a device based on this method, 3D fabric items producible by this method and device, and composite materials reinforced with such 3D fabric items are disclosed. The 3D fabric items are produced directly by the add-on weaving process using a complementary fabric (CF), warp yarns (P) and weft yarns (G). The interacting woven fabric produced by interlacing the warp (P) and weft (G) yarns is simultaneously integrated with the complementary fabric (CF) used. The complementary fabric (CF) and interacting woven fabric integrate in mutual through-thickness directions at their intersecting planes and create directly 3D fabric items which are useful for manufacturing delamination resistant and high-performance composite materials.