Application of stitch-bonded multi‐plies made by using the extended warp knitting process: reinforcements with symmetrical layer arrangement for concrete

Abstract

With the development of the extended stitch‐bonding process, an important modification of the production process for stitch‐bonded fabrics was realized. Through the introduction of a lateral shift of the needle bar, the stitch‐bonding process is essentially being changed compared with the working method used before. This has made possible the manufacturing of optimally adjusted textile semi‐finished products for numerous applications in the field of composite material. One such application – the usage of stitch‐bonded fabrics as a textile reinforcement for concrete – is analyzed in this article. It was observed that promising possibilities for the use of the extended stitch‐bonding process result from overcoming the known restrictions during the production with conventional stitch‐bonding machines. A markedly improved quality of textile reinforcement is achieved through the new binding patterns and the free arrangement of the layers. The reinforcement shows a verifiable better bonding behavior than the conventional method. Therefore, it is guaranteed that there is no spalling on the concrete surface at service load, which is an important prerequisite for the practical use of textile‐reinforced concrete.