Weaving and Development of Carbon Fiber Fabrics

 

Carbon fiber possesses excellent properties such as light weight, high strength, high modulus, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, fatigue resistance, and good biocompatibility. It not only retains the intrinsic characteristics of carbon materials but also combines the flexibility and processability of textile fibers, forming a brand-new material system together with its composites. Among these, two-dimensional and three-dimensional carbon fiber fabrics are indispensable components of carbon fiber composite materials.
Composite materials reinforced with carbon fiber fabrics (CFRP) are regarded as advanced high-tech products and are widely used in sports equipment, construction reinforcement, transportation, aerospace, and other fields. Owing to their outstanding performance, carbon fibers and their fabrics have become essential materials for countries around the world.

Weaving Technology of Carbon Fiber Plane Fabrics

Common types of carbon fiber plane fabrics are mainly categorized into three weave patterns: plain weave, twill weave, and satin weave. In these fabrics, carbon fiber tows are interlaced alternately in the warp and weft directions.
Challenges in Carbon Fiber Fabric Weaving
Due to the inherent brittleness, high friction coefficient, and low fracture toughness of carbon fibers, weaving them is more difficult compared to other yarns. When using conventional looms to weave carbon fiber fabrics, issues such as fuzzing, yarn breakage, and high material loss rates often occur.
Research has shown that during the guiding process, the loss rate of carbon fibers can reach 7%–8%
, which translates into an annual economic loss of millions of yuan. In recent years, numerous experiments have identified two main factors that influence the weaving performance of carbon fibers:

  1. Intrinsic properties of carbon fibers, such as fracture toughness, friction coefficient, and flexural rigidity.
  2. Weaving process parameters, such as yarn bending depth and tensile force.

Improvements in Loom Design
To address the problems in carbon fiber weaving, researchers have proposed improvements from two aspects: increasing the number of yarn creels and enhancing tension control in weaving equipment.
When weaving with carbon fibers, due to their unique properties, the conventional warping process is often omitted. Instead, a creel and tension control device are added — the carbon fibers are drawn from the creel through the tensioner to adjust the tension — thereby improving weaving efficiency and reducing fiber loss.

Processing and Stitching Technology of Carbon Fiber Fabrics​

Carbon fiber stitching technology reinforces layers of carbon fiber fabric in the thickness direction using high-performance fiber sewing threads. The reinforcement provided by these threads effectively prevents delamination between fabric layers and significantly improves impact toughness and interlaminar strength.
Although sewing threads made from various high-performance fibers can strengthen carbon fiber fabrics to some extent, differences in material properties between the sewing thread and the fabric often result in reduced overall mechanical performance of the final composite part after post-processing.
To fully utilize the mechanical potential of carbon fiber fabrics, it is more appropriate to use carbon fiber itself as the sewing thread. However, when carbon fiber is used as a sewing thread, breakage still occurs due to frictional wear during the sewing process—this remains a technical bottleneck in carbon fiber fabric stitching.
Modification of Carbon Fiber Sewing ThreadsTo address the problems of fuzzing and breakage of carbon fiber sewing threads during stitching, two main improvement approaches have been proposed:

  1. External Protection Methods:
    Researchers have suggested protecting carbon fiber sewing threads through chemical treatments, such as sizing, which can reduce the surface friction coefficient and thus minimize fiber damage. Another method involves wrapping the carbon fiber thread in a core-spun yarn structure, which improves sewability but comes with higher cost.
  2. Structural Modification of the Thread:
    Another approach is to modify the internal structure of the carbon fiber thread by applying a moderate twist. Twisting enhances fiber cohesion, reduces the number of damaged filaments, and helps prevent thread breakage.

Although these methods have successfully reduced the thread breakage rate to some extent, the problem has not been completely resolved. One major cause of thread breakage is that carbon fibers cannot withstand the dynamic tension and shear forces encountered during sewing, causing already weakened fibers to snap. Studies show that the breakage rate is especially high near the peak values of tension or shear force.
Improvements in Sewing Machine Mechanisms
Several mechanical modifications can further alleviate these issues:

  • Adding a pulley at the needle eye helps reduce frictional wear between the carbon fiber thread and the needle.
  • Installing a thread relaxation device can release tension and shear forces during sewing.

These two improvement methods have proven to be effective to a certain extent in enhancing the reliability and performance of carbon fiber sewing processes.

Conclusion

Carbon fiber fabrics offer high strength, light weight, and excellent durability. Advances in 2D and 3D weaving and stitching technologies have improved their mechanical performance, though challenges like fiber brittleness and thread breakage remain. Equipment and process innovations continue to enhance weaving efficiency and product quality. This is the original address where the article was published: https://fyitester.com/carbon-fiber-fabrics/

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