AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE COMPRESSION PROPERTIES OF POLYURETHANE-BASED WARP-KNITTED SPACER FABRIC COMPOSITES

The present work has reported the compression properties of polyurethane-based warp-knitted spacer fabric composites (PWSF). In order to investigate the effect of structural parameters of fabric on the compression performance of composites, a series of warp-knitted spacer fabrics (WSF) with different structural parameters including spacer yarn inclination angle, thickness, fineness of spacer yarns, and outer layer structure have been involved. The produced composites have been characterized for compression properties. The energy-absorption performance during the compression process has been determined as a function of the efficiency and the compression stress obtained from compression tests. The results show that the composites based on spacer fabrics having smaller spacer yarns inclination angle, higher fabric thickness, finer spacer yarn, and larger mesh in outer layers perform better with respect to energy-absorption properties at lower stress level, whereas at higher stress level, the best energy-absorption abilities are obtained in case of spacer fabrics constructed of larger spacer yarn inclination angle, lower fabric thickness, coarser spacer yarn, and smaller mesh in surface layers.