Towards yarn-to-yarn friction behavior in various architectures during the manufacturing of engineering woven fabrics

Friction plays an important role in ensuring the quality of fiber-reinforced composites. Understanding and evaluating friction properties across different fabric architectures and yarn pre-tensions pose significant challenges. In this current research, the influence of fabric architectures and yarn pre-tensions on friction properties during the weaving process were investigated. A novel micro-meso theoretical model based on Peirce’s geometrical model to predict friction properties was developed. The theoretical model shows strong agreement with experimental results, particularly regarding fabric architectures. It can be found that yarn pre-tensions, a critical parameter, increased friction force across all tested architectures, directly impacting yarn friction performance. Additionally, the theoretical model was extended to predict the friction properties of yarns during the manufacturing of 3D fabrics. The findings indicate that fabric architecture significantly influences friction behavior, with the configuration cell depending not only on yarn dimensions but also on preform parameters such as the number of layers, thickness, and binding pattern.