Stofflagen

Stofflagen is a German term used in textiles and materials engineering to describe a layer of fabric or a ply in a laminate. In textiles, a Stofflage refers to a single sheet of fabric—woven, knitted, or nonwoven—used alone or in combination with other layers to form multi-layer fabrics. They are employed to achieve structure, warmth, insulation, moisture management, and barrier properties. In garment construction, interlinings and other fabric layers are common Stofflagen that add stiffness, shape, or warmth, while quilted or bonded layers create padding or protection.

In composite engineering, Stofflagen denotes plies of reinforcement material such as carbon fiber, glass fiber, or aramid laid up in a resin matrix to form laminates. The arrangement and orientation of plies (the stacking sequence) determine mechanical properties, anisotropy, and failure modes. Production methods include hand layup, prepregs, automated fiber placement, resin transfer molding, and autoclave curing.

Key properties for Stofflagen include fiber type, areal weight, fabric weave or nonwoven structure, thickness, moisture behavior, chemical resistance, thermal stability, and the quality of the fiber-matrix interface. Design and processing considerations also involve cost, compatibility with the chosen resin system, cure temperature, and processing equipment.

Standards and testing for Stofflagen are addressed by textile and composite standards bodies (such as ISO and ASTM), covering thickness, mechanical performance, permeability, and overall structural properties of layered fabrics and laminates.