Specialty Weaving > Braiding | 2-D Woven Structures

Braiding

Fiber Materials, Inc. produces braided structures from a wide range of high performance materials.  Braids are available in tubular, flat or cordage forms.  A third direction of reinforcement may be obtained by introducing interlaced axial warps and/or a central core.  Multiple layers of  braid may be formed around various shaped mandrels to produce thick walled preforms for composite structures.

State-of-the-art braiding techniques permit design flexibility capable of  yielding complex structures.  Braiding also allows net-shape or near-net-shape processing of composites, resulting in an ideal method for fabricating lightweight structures.  Fiber conforms to the mandrel upon which it is braided so that various geometries are possible, i.e. cylindrical, square, hexagonal, etc.  The inside diameter (and thus outside diameter) can be varied over a single braided structure, and wall thickness can be built up to varied depths.  Braid architectures and fiber types can be varied within a single structure and can be tailored for specific mechanical properties.