3-D Textiles for Advanced Cement Based Matrix Reinforcement

This article gives a definition for the wording 3-D textiles and presents the latest developments in the field of 3-D textile production. The double needle bar raschel technology has been improved by inserting straight reinforcement yarns inserted bi-axially on both sides of the textile. This is a completely new approach and allows a wide range of new applications. One major application of the bi-axially reinforced spacer fabrics is the `textile reinforced concrete' (TRC). In TRC, ready-made textiles can be used instead of single fibers in order to take full advantage of the fiber strength. As the 3-D textiles can be positioned conforming the load situation in three dimensions, they show a superior behavior from technical and economical point of view. A completely new type of 3-D-fabric is presented — warp knitted spacer fabrics for concrete applications.