Hybrid Yarns and Textile Preforming for Thermoplastic Composites

In the recent years, the use of textile structures made from high performance fibers is finding increasing importance in composites applications. In textile process, there is direct control over fiber placements and ease of handling of fibers. Besides economical advantages, textile technologies also provide homogenous distribution of matrix and reinforcing fiber. Thus textile performs are considered to be the structural backbone of composite structures. Textile technology is of particular importance in the context of improving certain properties of composites like inter-laminar shear and damage tolerance apart from reducing the cost of manufacturing. Textile industry has the necessary technology to weave high performance multifilament fibers such as glass, aramid and carbon, which have high tensile strength, modulus, and resistance to chemicals and heat into various types of preforms. Depending upon textile preforming method the range of fiber orientation and fiber volume fraction of preform will vary, subsequently affecting matrix infiltration and consolidation. As a route to mass production of textile composites, the production speed, material handling, and material design flexibility are major factors responsible for selection of textile reinforcement production. This opens a new field of technical applications with a new type of semifinished material produced by textile industry. Various types of hybrid yarns for thermoplastic composites and textile preforming methods have been discussed in detail in this issue. Information on manufacturing methods, structural details and properties of different hybrid yarns are presented and critically analyzed. Characterization methods used for these hybrid yarns have been discussed along with the influence of different processing parameters on the properties being characterized. The developments in all areas of textile preforming including weaving, knitting, braiding, stitching and nonwovens techniques are presented and discussed along with the characterization techniques for these preforms. The techniques used for manufacturing composites using hybrid yarns and textile preforms are discussed along with the details on compaction behavior of these structures during consolidation process. The structure of hybrid yarns and the textile preforms have direct influence on the properties of the composite made from them. The reported literature in this aspect is discussed in detail. In the end, the potential application areas and their trends for thermoplastic composites are discussed and analyzed.     

Tribological properties of aramid–polypropylene composites from commingled yarns: influence of aramid fibre weight fraction

Commingling process involves the mixing of two types of filaments, viz. reinforcing and matrix-forming filaments in a nozzle with the help of compressed air leading to a homogenous distribution. During compression moulding, close placement of reinforcing and matrix-forming filaments reduces the mass transfer distance of the matrix and ensures proper wetting of fibres resulting in the enhanced properties of the composites. Three types of compression-moulded composites of polypropylene and Kevlar with different Kevlar fibre weight fractions were developed using commingled yarns. Studies on mechanical properties of these laminates confirmed that the composites having higher weight fraction of Kevlar fibre showed better tensile properties. Both abrasive and erosive wear rates showed a strong influence of Kevlar fibre weight fraction. With increase in weight fraction of Kevlar fibre, the erosion wear rate of the composites decreased as Kevlar fibres have higher wear resistance compared with polypropylene matrix. Similar trend was observed also in case of abrasive wear. The composites showed higher wear resistance while abrading the composite with polymer pin in a direction perpendicular to the fibre orientation as compared with abrading in a direction parallel to the fibre orientation.     

3D woven green composites from textile waste: mechanical performance

Application of textile waste for development of value added green composites has been carried out in this work. Textile fabric waste is collected from various sources. These waste materials are garneted, so as to produce loose fibrous material, subsequently this fibrous material was converted into twisted strand for manufacturing of 3D woven preforms for production of composites. Twisted strands are converted into orthogonal 3D woven structure. The fibers extracted from waste material are combined with polypropylene in 60/40 proportion. Composites of various specifications are developed to examine their end-use applications. These composite materials are characterized for their mechanical behavior to find out the response against tensile loading, flexural stress, and impact force. The effects of moisture absorption on mechanical properties of composites are investigated. 3D woven fabric reinforced composites produced by using waste fiber yarn and normal cotton OE yarn do not exhibit any significant difference in the mechanical behavior of composite. This result confirmed that waste material can be safely used as reinforcing structure in green composite manufacturing.     

Cellulose-based Antimicrobial Composites and Applications: A Brief Review

Cellulose-based antimicrobial composites, typically in the form of functional films and cloth, have received much attention in various applications, such as food, medical and textile industries. Cellulose is a natural polymer, and is highly biodegradable, green, and sustainable. Imparting antimicrobial properties to cellulose, will significantly enhance its applications so that its commercial value can be boosted. In this review paper, the use of cellulose for antimicrobial composites’ preparation was discussed. Two different approaches: surface loading/coating and interior embedding, were focused. Three most widely-applied sectors: food, medical and textile industries, were highlighted. Nanocellulose, as a leading-edge cellulose material, its unique application on the antimicrobial composites, was particularly discussed.     

Geometrical modeling of 3D woven spacer fabrics as reinforcement for lightweight sandwich composites

Lightweight sandwich composites mainly utilize hollow textile preforms as their reinforcement. The production of such structures with desired mechanical properties requires monitoring of its repeat unit weight and fibre volume fraction (FVF) from designing stage itself. In this work, mathematical expressions have been developed using fabric geometrical parameters which can calculate the areal density and FVF of a repeat unit of 3D hollow woven structures. Five samples each of trapezoidal and rectangular spacer configurations were produced with different cell structural parameters and materials to validate the model. It was found that the computed results for both the weight and FVF were in good correlation with experimental results, with prediction accuracy being more than 90% in all cases. It was also found that with increase in the cell dimensions, the FVF of the expanded fabric decreases.     

Kenaf fibre-reinforced polyester composites: flexural characterization and statistical analysis

This paper deals with the effect of the chemical treatment, fibre ratio and fibre reinforcement structure on the flexural properties of kenaf-polyester composites. Composites were made from an unsaturated polyester matrix reinforced with an alkali-treated and virgin kenaf fibres in a loose fibres and nonwovens. Results reveal that alkali treatment improves the flexural properties of composites expect elongation. The same result was obtained when using a nonwoven structure us reinforcement. The best flexural properties were observed for 11.1% fibre weight ratio with the nonwoven structure reinforce composite. The flexural strength and the flexural modulus were 69.5 MPa and 7.11 GPa, respectively, for this composite while it was 42.24 MPa and 3.61, respectively, for polyester samples (no fibre reinforcement). A statistical study was carried out in order to study the effect of the alkali treatment, reinforcement structure and the reinforcement weight ration on the composite properties. This study proved that the parameter with most impact on the measured properties is the fibre-to-matrix weight ratio. And also this study aims to determine the optimum parameters allowing maximising all measured properties and we found that when using a nonwoven structure made with chemically-treated fibre at 11.10% fibre weight ratio, is the optimum solution.     

18—THE EFFECT OF HUMIDITY ON THE PHOTOTENDERING OF UNDYED FIBRES

Various undyed textile fibres exposed to the Light-fastness Tester under different humidity conditions are shown to lose tensile strength to different degrees; poly(vinyl alcohol) fibre, viscose, nylon, and cotton are found to be very sensitive to changes in humidity, whereas Orion acrylic fibre and Terylene polyester fibre are the least sensitive materials among those tested.     

Processing of waste carbon and polyamide fibres for high-performance thermoplastic composites: influence of carding parameters on fibre orientation,fibre length and sliver cohesion force

Abstract

The processing of waste carbon fibre on carding machine for the developments of nonwovens, tapes and hybrid yarn structures is an emerging trend. These structures are widely used to enhance the performance efficiency of recycled carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites. The aim of the research presented in this study is to process waste carbon fibre on a carding machine and to investigate the influence of different carding parameters on waste carbon fibre. For this purpose, card slivers composed of waste carbon and polyamide fibres were developed on a double cylinder card machine by varying technical parameters. Then, effect of these parameters on card sliver quality was assessed in terms of fibre orientation, fibre length and sliver cohesion force. Results revealed that fibre orientation and fibre length is significantly affected by technological parameters carding zones, whereas the sliver cohesion force is significantly affected by the speed of feed roller and doffer.     

Fibrous raw material of bamboo origin with improved fibrillation and spinnability

For making use of the natural biomass, the textile features of the bamboo fibres were optimized. Since lignin content of the fibres is responsible for its textile properties, the alkali-treated bamboo fibres were bleached with peracetic acid that resulted into the desired removal of lignin content of the fibres. As evident from the scanning electron microscopic images, the morphology of the fibres was much improved over the control samples. The resulting fibre possesses desirable tenacity, colouring properties and strength. Overall, an improved method for chemical treatment of bamboo fibres is developed so that this natural biomass is used for textile purpose.