High performance textiles reinforcement

A. Peled and A. Bentur, Cementitious composites reinforced with textile fabrics . Paper 35 in H.W. Reinhardt and A.E. Naaman (eds) Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites (HPFRCC3), Proc. RILEM, PRO 6, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 1999, 31-40. 

Advanced composites and fiber-reinforced materials are used in sailcloth, speedboat, and other types of boat components, and leisure and commercial fishing gear. A ram id and polyethylene fibers are currentiy used in conveyer belts to collect valuable offshore minerals such as cobalt, uranium, and manganese. Constmction of oil-adsorbing fences made of high performance fabrics is being evaluated in Japan as well as the constmction of other pollution control textile materials for maritime use. For most marine uses, the textile materials must be resistant to biodeterioration and to a variety of aqueous pollutants and environmental conditions. 

What do we think of when we hear fiber Clothing, certainly, and other textiles such as sheets and blankets, curtains and upholstery. Some fiber goes into carpeting—for offices, homes, automobiles, and recreational vehicles. Automobile, truck, and bus tires are strengthened with the use of fibers called cords. Some fiber is used for industrial purposes such as insulation and filtration. Hollow fibers that act as membranes are used in the desalination of seawater by reverse osmosis and in kidney dialysis. As we have already seen, extremely high-strength fibers are used to make bulletproof safety equipment and to reinforce polymers for high performance ap-... 

Of the available textile reinforcements (woven, braided, knitted, stitched), many can now be considered to be mature applications. For example, non-crimp fabric (carbon fibre) is used to manufacture the A380 rear pressure bulkhead at 240kg, in mass, 6.2m long, 5.5m wide, and 1.6m deep, this can be classed as a large structure at a smaller length scale, braided carbon fibres are now used regularly for high performance bicycle frames. 

Continuous, aligned fibers are the most efficient reinforcement form and hence are widely used for high-performance applications. However, for ease of fabrication and to achieve specific properties, such as improved strength, continuous fibers are converted into a wide variety of reinforcement forms using textile technology. Key among them at this time are two-dimensional and three-dimensional fabrics and braids. 

High-performance ceramic-ceramic composites such as SiC-reinforced alumina are candidate materials for turbine blades as well as highly efficient ceramic diesel engines. To date these materials have been prepared principally by slurry-coating ceramic fibers or textiles followed by composite assembly and hot-pressing. Not only is this process cost-intensive, but fiber strengths are degraded due to abrasion. Ceramic matrices prepared by sol-gel... 

---