Investigation of penetration forces during tufting of stacked carbon-fibre preforms

This study investigates the penetration forces during tufting of stacked dry carbon non-crimp fabrics (NCF). The stacked material with a thickness between 20 to 60 mm is made of several quadriaxial [0°/+45°/90°/-45°] NCF layers that are tufted at frequencies up to 2.3 Hz. Furthermore, the effects of the preforming process, the frequency of tufting and the thickness of specimen on the needle penetration force are investigated. Lastly, digital image correlation (DIC) is applied to study the displacement of the fabric during the unthreaded tufting of material. Future work will involve the integration of the experimental results into the simulation of the tufting process.