Gernitex

unidirectional-carbon-fiber-tape

Carbon fiber tape »

Spread tow carbon fiber / aramid tapes for unidirectional reinforcements. Carbon fiber tapes are obtained from carbon fiber tows by a spreading process. The resulting ribbons provide unidirectional and lightweight reinforcements. Tape width, area density and fiber type can be chosen depending on the application. Densities from 23g/m2 to 97g/m2.

spread-tow-carbon-fiber-fabric

Spread tow carbon fiber fabric »

Spread tow carbon fiber / aramid fabrics with a biaxial or triaxial weave. While biaxial fabrics are woven at 0° et 90° directions, triaxial fabrics are woven from three sets of parallel tapes intersecting at 60° angles. Their triangular structure exhibit high resistance to tensile, compressive and shear stresses in every in-plane direction. Densities from 80 to 290g/m2.

carbon-fiber-sheets

Carbon fiber sheets »

Carbon fibers impregnated with a thermoset or thermoplastic matrix. These carbon fiber sheets are made from unidirectional or woven layers of carbon fibers. Thermoset sheets can be bonded on a lightweight core to produce sandwich structures while thermoplastic sheets car be processed by thermoforming. Carbon densities from 80 to 480g/m2.

About

Gernitex is a weaver of technical fibers located near Paris, France. It processes carbon and aramid fibers into tapes and woven fabrics for the composites industry.

Through the development of highly aligned fiber tapes and triaxial weave fabrics, it strives to make the best possible use of the fibers properties to help build lighter and stronger composites parts.

Application sectors of Gernitex products include cars, sport equipments such as skis and surfboards or flying models, for increased strength and weight savings or for decoration.

What is the problem with current reinforcement fabrics used to produce composite parts?
Carbon fiber fabrics and other reinforcement fabrics are traditionally produced with the same weaving method as in the garment industry. Although efficient to manufacture clothes, this weaving method is not well suited for the production of reinforcement fabrics. Indeed, the resulting structure of yarns oriented in the 0° and 90° degrees directions exhibits several structural deficiencies. For instance, it fails when subjected to compressive or tensile stress along the 45 or -45 degrees directions or when subjected to shear stress along the 0° or 90° degrees directions. To overcome these defects, it is usually necessary to superimpose several layers of fabric oriented in different directions.
What makes triaxial fabrics better suited to composites manufacturing ?
In the same way triangular structures are stronger than their quadrilateral counterparts, fabrics made of yarns in three directions are stronger than fabrics made of yarns in only two directions. As triaxial weave fabrics have practically equal strength in every direction, a single layer of triaxial fabric is sufficient to provide a quasi isotropic reinforcement. Furthermore, their ability to accept curvatures makes them particularly suited to the manufacturing of molded composites.
What are the benefits of triaxial custom-tow fabrics ?
Many composites require the use of different materials, for example carbon fibers for their high stiffness and aramid fibers for their wear resistance. At present, carbon and aramid roving obtained from their respective manufacturers are directly mounted on traditional biaxial weaving looms to produce carbon fiber fabrics or aramid fiber fabrics. As a consequence, to provide an isotropic mixed-material reinforcement, it is necessary to surimposed at least two layers of biaxial fabric for each material. For example, a carbon/aramid isotropic lay-up would require at least four layers. To produce an isotropic reinforcement made of the same material composition, an alternative approach is to use one layer of triaxial fabric woven from mixed-material tows. By replacing several layers with a single one, this method provides both cost reduction and process simplification.