Influence of loading orientation and knitted versus woven transversal connections in 3D textile reinforced cement (TRC) composites

Abstract

As previous research has shown, the use of 3D textiles does not only facilitate the manufacturing process of Textile Reinforced Cement (TRC) composites but also influences the mechanical properties of the TRC. A fundamental understanding of the contribution of the transversal connections in the 3D textile to the loadbearing behavior of 3D TRCs is, however, still lacking in the literature. Therefore, this research experimentally investigates two different parameters of 3D TRCs; firstly, the 3D textile typology, namely knitted versus woven transversal connections, is investigated. Secondly, the influence of the stress direction with respect to the orientation of these connections (parallel or perpendicular) is studied. A clear influence of the orientation is witnessed for the woven 3D TRC system while no influence is observed for the knitted 3D TRC. Both woven and knitted 3D TRC systems show an increased post-cracking bending stiffness compared to an equivalent 2D system (with the same textiles but without transversal connections), yet the woven 3D TRC clearly outperforms the knitted 3D TRC.