Braided reinforcement

A reinforcement woven with yarns running in the thickness direction as well as in the plane, producing a near net shape preform with through thickness reinforcement. It improves damage tolerance and resistance to delamination and is used in demanding aerospace components such as fan blades and structural joints, usually with liquid moulding processes.

A process in which continuous fibre tows, wetted with resin or pre-impregnated, are wound under tension onto a rotating mandrel in controlled patterns and then cured. It is the standard method for pressure vessels, pipes, tanks and other axisymmetric structures.

A bundle of thousands of continuous carbon filaments handled as a single unit, the carbon fibre equivalent of a glass roving. Tows are designated by their filament count in thousands, written with a K, and are used directly in filament winding, automated fibre placement and weaving.