Modeling mechanical properties of knitted fabric composites - Part II: Theoretical description

Abstract

A systematic research program towards understanding the structure-property relationships of various knitted fabric reinforced composites, especially their load carrying capability, has been carried out recently by the present authors and their co-workers. The mechanical properties of the composites have been essentially modeled in terms of their constituent properties and contents, the fabric structural parameters, as well as laminate lay-up information. The achievements thus made are reviewed and summarized in this series of papers. After the overview and the geometric description given in the previous paper /1/, the present paper reports the modeling development together with a summary on the theoretical analysis of the stiffness and strength of knitted fabric composites by other researchers in the literature. Applications to various examples including plain, interlock, and Milano rib knitted fabric reinforced thermoset (epoxy) or elastomer matrix, single or multi layer composites as well as experimental evidences, correlation between theoretical results and experiments, and parametric studies will be shown in the Part III paper.