Page 31 - 3D Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

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Radial

Figure 2.8 Illustration of Aerospatiale method for producing 3D orthogonal non-woven
preforms and an example of a consolidated preform

Unlike multiaxial weaving, orthogonal non-woven processes are more capable of
producing yam architectures close to the idealised view, although they are generally a
slower production method than those utilising more conventional weaving technology.
Although the processes described here can produce a very wide variety of preforms that
are generally more complex than those produced via multilayer weaving, the
commercial use of these processes has been extremely limited. Most of the equipment
that has been developed is highly specialised and generally not suited for large volume
production, thus its commercial use has been primarily in the production of expensive
carbodcarbon or ceramic composite structures.