Braiding, Automatic creation of dry-composites preforms
DJP has a technical fiber 3D-Interlock braiding machine for producing continuous-fiber technical textile preforms in the form of "socks". This braiding produces multilayer “socks” with each layer interlaced to the next one, which ensures unrivaled integrity for the resulting composite structures. These preforms are made of identical or different yarns as required. These “socks” are produced from carbon, aramid, glass, basalt and metallic fibers, or alternatively thermoplastic compounds and even natural fibers etc..
Our braiding facility is unique in Europe and allows us to produce complete preforms for slender composite structures. The maximum diameter which can be handled is 400 to 500 mm over a length which can almost be infinite. The thickness of the preform which can be produced in a single pass is between 1 and 7 mm, depending on the arrangement of the fibers. The axial strength of the structure is particularly good and reliable.
This type of automatic fiber placement ensures excellent reproducibility from one part to the next, and produces preforms from continuous fibers without any breaks.
The preforms produced with this method have very valuable mechanical properties, excellent fatigue resistance and a superior ability to withstand external attack compared with preforms obtained from "traditional" composites.
Since the early 2000s, this process has allowed DJP to develop a wide range of rods and struts with particularly attractive results in terms of resistance to static and dynamic loads compared to equivalent sized metal rods. The gains obtained with a series of braided composite rods, compared to the same metal rods, exposed to the same environment, are in the order of x3 in terms of mass and x2 in terms of mechanical strength.
