Woven

Woven composites are finding an increasing application because of their suitability for injection moulding. The main advantages of woven materials are that they can be draped over or in non-flat moulds while retaining some of their orthogonal properties. The weave also acts to enhance their impact performance. The reinforcements generally fall into the category of a cloth or woven roving. There are several different patterns for the weave including plain weave, which is the most highly interlaced; a basket weave, which has warp and weft yarns that are paired up and satin weaves. The last has a minimum of interlacing. The satin weaves are produced in a standard four, five or eight-harness configuration. An eight-harness configuration has a higher resistance to shear distortion than a four harness weave. Woven roving reinforcements consist of flattened bundles of continuous strands in a plain weave pattern with slightly more material in the warp direction.