Fabrics formed from a multitude of continuous fibers, each of the fibers including many individual filaments, are disclosed. The fibers are held together by a stitching yarn. Properties of the stitching yarn allow a resin to more readily flow through the fabric.

Fabrics formed from a multitude of continuous fibers, each of the fibers including many individual filaments, are disclosed. The fibers are held together by a stitching yarn. Properties of the stitching yarn allow a resin to more readily flow through the fabric.

Methods for forming composite articles include providing a non-crimp fabric (NCF) comprising a plurality of fiber plies maintained in a layup by stitching, wherein the stitching exhibits a lower structural tolerance to heat and/or UV light relative to the fiber plies, selectively degrading the stitching in one or more areas using heat or UV light, draping the NCF on a contoured article, applying a polymer matrix material to the draped NCF, and curing the polymer matrix material to form a contoured composite article. The stitching can be degraded in regions of the NCF which, when draped on the contoured article, correspond to topological features of the contoured article. Degrading the stitching can comprise breaking the stitching. The fiber plies can comprise carbon fibers, glass fibers, and/or basalt fibers. The contoured article can be tooling and/or an automotive component. The NCF can be a bi-axial NCF.

Disclosed herein a stitch-bonded fabric comprising at least one fibrous web layer having a plurality of the fibers with a first length of more than about 25 mm, oriented substantially in a cross-direction (XD) of the stitch-bonded fabric wherein a density of the at least one fibrous web layer is less than about 0.12 g/cm.sup.3. The at least one fibrous web layer is stitch-bonded with yarns following a pattern of linear stitches along a machine direction (MD) spaced from about 1.4 mm to about 4.0 mm along XD, and repeating with a spacing front about 0.8 mm to about 2.5 mm in MD, wherein the plurality of fibers having said first length are captured by multiple stitches. A density of fibers and yarn enclosed within the stitches is above about 0.10 g/cm.sup.3 and below about 5.0 g/cm.sup.3 and the linear stiches are depressed below exposed the wales between the linear stitches along MD. The stitch-bonded yarns can be heat set to stabilize the stitch-bonded fabric.

The present invention relates to non-woven composite materials, methods of making and uses thereof, including articles comprising said composite structures. More particularly, the present invention relates to non-woven composite materials possessing desirable impact performance and penetration resistance.

Presented are automated manufacturing systems for fabricating engineered textiles, footwear and apparel formed with such engineered textiles, methods for making such engineered textiles, and memory-stored, processor-executable instructions for operating such manufacturing systems. An automated manufacturing system constructs engineered textiles from workpieces composed of superposed, unwoven wires. The system includes a movable end effector bearing a stitching head and an image capture device. The stitching head has a thread feeder and sewing needle to generate stitches. The image capture device captures images of the workpiece and outputs data indicative thereof. A system controller receives this image capture device data and locates, from the captured image of the workpiece, gaps defined between quadrangles of the superposed wires. The controller commands the end effector to sequentially move the stitching head and thereby align the sewing needle with the gaps, and commands the stitching head to insert a succession of stitches within these gaps.

A reinforcing fiber bundle base material has a reinforcing fiber bundle surface to which a sizing agent adheres, wherein a reinforcing fiber bundle has a fiber number per unit width of 600 fibers/mm or more and less than 1,600 fibers/mm while the reinforcing fiber bundle has a drape level of 120 mm or more and 240 mm or less.

The present disclosure relates to a stitching yarn and non-crimp fabrics containing such yarn. The stitching yarn described herein is a multifilament stitching yarn characterized by two or more of the following properties: (a) comprises a plurality of polymeric fibers, (b) has a linear density of less than or equal to 80 dtex, (c) has a filament count of less than or equal to 0.8 times the dtex value of the stitching yarn, or (d) has a twist of less than 200 revolutions per meter (r/m). The present disclosure also relates to a fiber preform, composite material, and composite article containing the non-crimp fabric.

The present disclosure relates to a stitching yarn and non-crimp fabrics containing such yarn. The stitching yarn described herein is a multifilament stitching yarn characterized by two or more of the following properties: (a) comprises a plurality of polymeric fibers, (b) has a linear density of less than or equal to 80 dtex, (c) has a filament count of less than or equal to 0.8 times the dtex value of the stitching yarn, or (d) has a twist of less than 200 revolutions per meter (r/m). The present disclosure also relates to a fiber preform, composite material, and composite article containing the non-crimp fabric.

For the production of components made of fiber-reinforced composites, in particular for the production of rotor blade belts, a unidirectional non-crimp fabric made of glass fiber rovings is provided, the non-crimp fabric having a first stabilizing layer on the underside thereof and a second stabilizing layer on the upper side thereof, which layers are sewn together by pillar stitching.