Knittability of Basalt Fiber Weft-Knitted Fabrics for Composite Reinforcement Based on Properties of Advanced Composite Materials

Abstract

The knittability of basalt fiber yarn for knitted fabrics was estimated from two aspects. Firstly the effect of 3 kinds of head size of needle hook on the loop strength of basalt fiber yarn was analysis by the experimental data. Then the basalt fiber yarn was knitted into plain, 1*1 rib and all needle rib knitted fabrics in 5 different loop lengths in a flat knitting machine. The influence of loop length, fabric stitch and fiber fineness on the fiber damage degree were studied by means of the tensile strength of the yarn taken from the fabrics for all kinds of fabrics. The experimental results show that for these 3 kinds of basalt weft knitted fabrics there is a best loop length in which the fiber damage degree caused by the knitting process is the smallest and the value is different for each stitch.