A micro-mechanical model of knitted fabric and its application to the analysis of buckling under tension in wale direction: Micro-mechanical model

Abstract

The typical micro-knitting structure of knitted fabric, which makes it very different from woven fabric, is described. The tensile tests of knitted fabric are reported. The deformations of the micro-knitting structures are carefully studied. The study indicates that when a knitted fabric sheet is subjected to a tension along w-direction an extra compressive stress field inside loop in c-direction is induced. The extra stress field is also determined through analysis. Finally, a micro-mechanical model of knitted fabric is proposed. This work paves the way for the simulations of buckling modes of a knitted fabric sheet as are observed in experiments.Knitted fabric consists of more complicated microstructures. The simulations of draping or buckling of knitted fabric, and the determination of its con-stitutive model have not been paid a due attention in literature. In the present paper we describe the typical micro-knitting structures of knitted fabric, report the results of the tensile tests of knitted fabric, analyze the deformation of the micro-knitting structure, and, finally, propose a micro-mechanical model for knitted fabric.The more details about recent advances in fabric mechanics can be found in the review article [8] and the book [9].

Finite Element Analysis Technique and its Application in Numerical Simulation of Knitted Fabric

“…From the eighties of twenty century to now, it is the fast development period of fabric mechanics. In this period, Many papers about draping of fabric are published mainly using geometry non-linear plate element or shell element and linear increment orthotropic constitutive theory with finite element method and great development has been acquired about the woven fabric [1,2,3,4,5,6]. On account of complexity of the micro-structure of knitted fabric, there is little related work reported in literatures [7,8].…”