To study the resin flow and the permeability in fabric preforms during the liquid composite molding( LCM) process,influences of stitch and overlay placement styles on the internal flow behavior in-plane and transverse were investigated. The permeability tests were carried using unidirectional and biaxial noncrimp carbon fabric( NCF) by linear capacitance sensors and ultrasound monitor system. The results indicate that the internal flow behavior and permeability in plane with different stitch and overlay placement styles are significantly different. When flow channels formed by stitches penetrate along the fiber direction,the permeability is high in one direction, which makes the in-plane principle permeabilities K_1 and K_2 significantly different. When there is an angle between the flow channel and fiber direction,the in-plane principle permeabilities on all directions are nearly the same and the flow process is close to isotropy. As to transverse permeability,the exist of flow channels on thickness influences it greatly and it is about 1-2 orders of magnitude lower in unidirectional fabric than that in biaxial NCF.
Based on classic theory of elastic rod,the warp-knitted loop geometry in plane is independent of yarn properties,while there is a certain gap between the geometrical model and the actual fabrics.According to this problem,further analysis of loop geometry is done based on the theory of elastic rod with theoretical calculation and experiments.The theoretical analysis found that the distance between the contacted points at the loop root affected the loop geometry,and the distance was affected by the ratio of bending rigidity and the friction between yarns.The experiments,forming simple loop by taking the yarn as an elastic rod,found that the bending rigidity affected the loop geometry.Then the relationships between warp-knitted loop geometry in plane of metallic fabrics and wires properties were studied.The results show that metallic fabrics are more suitable for the theory of elastic rod;the friction and bending rigidity of wire yarns affect the loop geometry in plane.Also,the elongation of yarn affects the loop geometry in the actual warp-knitted fabric.
