Modeling and analysis of friction in end-face/inner-face circular braiding processes

Abstract

Friction between yarns could greatly influence braiding processes, especially using carbon/glass fibers. However, as the points of friction are various and traveling all the time, it is quite difficult to measure the total value of frictions. To solve this problem, mathematical models have been developed to predict the friction in two braiding processes of triaxial circular braiding processes, the widely used end-face braiding process and the inner-face braiding process. To analyze the influence of the two braiding processes to the interacted friction between yarns, some definitions and initial conditions were introduced. Based on these conditions, the yarn net, which is formed during the braiding process, was divided into numerous segments. With the geometrical and force equilibrium relationships, each yarn nodes and segments were analyzed. Based on these equations and boundary conditions, the models of two braiding processes were established and solved by Matlab. A practical engineering implementation was shown to verify the validation of the model. The results shows that the inner-face braiding process of braiding process does have a better performance in eliminating the friction than the widely used end-face braiding process.