fabricreinforced

Fabricreinforced, or fabric reinforcement, refers to the use of textile fabrics as reinforcement within a matrix material to improve mechanical properties such as strength, stiffness, and damage tolerance. The fabrics can be woven, knitted, or nonwoven and may be laid up as flat sheets, three-dimensional forms, or continuous reinforcements.

Common reinforcement materials include glass (GFRP), carbon (CFRP), aramid (e.g., Kevlar), basalt, and other fibers. The matrices can be polymer resins (epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester), thermoplastics, metals, ceramics, or cementitious composites. In civil engineering, a widely used variant is fabric-reinforced concrete, where textile fabrics are embedded within or bonded to a cementitious matrix to enhance tensile strength and crack control. Carbon or glass fabrics applied with resin or cementitious coatings are also used to strengthen structures externally.

Manufacturing and application methods vary by system. In composites, fabrics are combined with resins through prepregs, lamination, resin transfer molding, or filament winding. In construction, fabrics may be applied by hand lay-up or spray-up, followed by infusion or curing. The orientation of the fabric controls anisotropic properties and critical load paths.

Applications span aerospace, automotive, wind energy blades, sporting goods, and marine products, as well as structural retrofits for bridges and buildings, where fabric reinforcement provides lightweight, high-strength patches or wrap-around strengthening.

Advantages include high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, fatigue performance, and design flexibility. Limitations involve cost, long-term durability under environmental exposure, moisture sensitivity, temperature limits, and the need for careful surface preparation and bonding. Standards and testing procedures exist under organizations such as ASTM and ISO to evaluate tensile, shear, and environmental resistance of fabric-reinforced systems.