3D Braiding Technology

A White Paper

Shrikar K Amirisetty

Contents

Part 1: 

Introduction ------3

Part 2: 

What our 2D braids have achieved so far (and what they haven’t) ------4

Part 3: 

Why switch to 3D? ------6

Part 4: 

Applications of 3D braiding technology ------7

Part 5: 

Conclusion ------11

Introduction

Ever since 25,000 BC, weaving has been found to be extremely useful. Back then, this was such revolutionary technology that many different peoples – the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Vikings, the Celts, etc. – had even adopted gods and goddesses to the name. Ever since then, weaving has evolved to fulfil our routine activities. Now, in our dynamic age, we have made great use of a branch of braiding known as 2D braiding. However, our world is ever-changing. Every day, it seems to demand more and more of our world’s mineral resources, hence depleting the resources at an accelerated rate. It is about time we revolutionize weaving again, for I believe it may hold a solution that could at least bring about a minimization of their usage, through the implementation of the innovative 3D braiding. This white paper will show you the drawbacks of our current braiding technology and why that calls for the adoption of 3D braiding.

What our 2d braids have achieved so far (and what they haven’t)

Conventional 2D braiding has long been a vital tool to industrialists in the development their products. During the Industrial Revolution, mechanical braiding had been evolved to increase production dramatically. Horn gear braiders are the usual mechanical braiding equipment used by many factories today.

These braiders have in-built “horn gears” that help move bobbins of yarn upon 2 sinusoidal paths that move clockwise and anticlockwise respectively, hence creating a braid. These braids have found applications in reinforcing hosing, power cords, wiring, lace, etc. And although these applications are quite important for our world’s daily happenings, they are in no way radical technology. 3D braiding, on the other hand, has shown extreme capability in almost every field of activity, ranging from sport to medicine to aerospace.

So, what is it that these 2D braids lack? Firstly, 2D braids are limited by their size and thickness, and have a poor impact resistance and low delamination strength because of the lack of thickness-determining yarn (or Z-fibers to represent the thickness direction). In other words, this brings about the disadvantage of 2D braids being too small and weak to be of much help for our problem, it cannot handle too much stress and strain, and it can easily come apart. This means that it is impossible to make long-lasting macrostructures through 2D braids. 3D braids, however, can be made into macrostructures (as I shall explain later on in the paper). The difference between 2D and 3D braiding is a lot like the difference between 2D and 3D printing – although 2D printing is extremely useful for our society to pass on information, 3D printers act like actual manufacturing units, building macrostructural capital. This major difference between the two opens up so many opportunities for application in various fields.

Why switch to 3d?

I’ve talked quite a bit on the limitation of 2D braiding, which can be removed by the application of 3D braiding, hence bringing out potential for much more usage, but I have not talked about how exactly.

3D braiders, rather than using just 2 paths like how 2D braiders do, makes use of braiders that follow multiple different paths; which, through the use of programming and an actuator, can follow particular

paths to form the braid. What this effectively does is braid multiple layers of yarn on top of each other. This gives the braided fabric a significantly increased stability in structure, and also ensures a high twistability without any damage to the structure. Another important feature of the 3D braid is the ability to form a variety of shapes, unlike 2D braids, which takes the form of sleeve-like structures only. Since they can be made in a variety of shapes, one would no longer have to worry about splicing and cutting the 2D braid to get the job done, hence making a tedious job a much simpler one. These braids also have the additional benefit of high strength-to-weight ratios, high fatigue limit and high resistance to corrosion, which explains its importance in aerospace engineering. Given all these new and crucial characteristics, 3D braids have become applicable for use in a wide variety of fields.

Applications of 3d braiding technology

3D braids have so far shown unbounded potential application in various fields of study and research. Most of these fields implement large amounts of Iron, Titanium, Platinum, etc. Most people don’t give notice to the fact that these resources are depleting the Earth of our resources, but this chart can prove otherwise:

3D braiding has already proven its capacity in medicinal technology, and is currently being used to make stent grafts (simple as well as bifurcated), prosthetics, and sutures. It has additionally found application in instances for high moisture content absorption. Studies also say that 3D braided fabrics are proving to be excellent scaffolds

for regenerating articular cartilage. Additionally, the production of these medical tools through 3D braiding makes much easier to operate and use, hence saving crucial time during urgent situations such as surgeries.

They have also proved to be useful against ballistics and is used widely to protect humans from projectile blasts and fragments. Originally, these shields made use of CFRP, a costly carbon polymer. In comparison to 3D braids, CFRP seems too costly a material to use.

They are also being used in protective industrial work clothes and firefighter suits due to their high strength-to-weight ratio.

3D braid applications have additionally displayed tremendous potential in space and aerospace units. They are currently being used in space suits and spacecraft components, and are also used extensively in the wings of outer layers of aircrafts and helicopters.

Last but not least, these braids have found application in sports. They are heavily used in golf bats and are starting to be used in the production sports shoes also.

What once used tons of Iron, Chromium, Gold, Titanium, Cobalt, Tantalum and Aluminum among many others in virtually every field being practiced can be replaced by these 3D braided fabrics at a lower cost.

Table 1 A brief look at the open-ended possibilities 3D braiding can provide us with.

Field of Study / Application
Medicine / Stents
Prosthetics
Sutures
Material specifically made to absorb large quantities of moisture
Scaffolds for regeneration of articular cartilage
Defense / Panels that block projectile blasts and fragments from soldiers and civilians
Protective Clothing / Industrial Workwear
Firefighter suits
Space and Aerospace / Spacesuits
Airplane engine propellers
Spacecraft Components
Airplane Wings
Helicopter Rotor blades
Rocket Nozzles
Sport / Baseball bats
Golf clubs
Tennis racquets

conclusion

Until now, we have been using 2D braiding fabrics that have served us well in the industry so far. However, our world has come to a stage where our mineral resources are being depleted at an accelerated rate; this is viewed as quite unnecessary in the face of 3D braiding, which can reduce the consumption of these resources, or at least divert their usage into other directions where 3D braids cannot help. Through extensive research and careful study of figures, I have clearly learnt and understood the possibility 3D braiding technology can provide a word low on mineral resources. I wish to spread this knowledge I have gained, to you through this white paper. Clearly, we have a crisis here on our planet, which I believe can be easily solved through improving our braiding technology and updating it from 2D to 3D.

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