Prediction and control of the mechanical properties of braided composite by controlling the braid angle using the micro-mechanical relationships for each of the flat faces of mandrel

Textile composites, in which a textile preform is used as the reinforcement phase, can easily take the form of complex parts and possess a more efficient and reliable structure, hence, they are a suitable substitute for conventional laminates. Among the textile composites, braided composites are of great importance and they are used more extensively, one of the important factors in mechanical properties of final composite part is the braid angle. In this paper, at first, a brief explanation of the new analytical relationships is presented. Also, a new strategy for changing and controlling the braid angle on each face of the flat mandrel by changing the shape of the guide ring from circle to an ellipse and also controlling the eccentricity is discussed which was previously developed by the authors. Then a comprehensive program is presented which predicts the mechanical properties of the final composite considering the braid angles. To validate the results, they are compared with the results of previous studies. After investigations, it was determined that the results of the developed program and micromechanical relationships show very good consistency in predicting the properties of the final composite. Therefore, it is possible to control the mechanical properties on any of the mandrel's faces by changing the mentioned parameters.