TY - JOUR AU - O’Keeffe, Caroline AU - Pickard, Laura Rhian AU - Cao, Juan AU - Allegri, Giuliano AU - Partridge, Ivana K. AU - Ivanov, Dmitry S. PY - 2021 DA - 2021/02/17 TI - Multi-material braids for multifunctional laminates: conductive through-thickness reinforcement JO - Functional Composite Materials SP - 5 VL - 2 IS - 1 AB - Conventional carbon fibre laminates are known to be moderately electrically conductive in-plane, but have a poor through-thickness conductivity. This poses a problem for functionality aspects that are of increasing importance to industry, such as sensing, current collection, inductive/resistive heating, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, etc. This restriction is of course more pronounced for non-conductive composite reinforcements such as glass, organic or natural fibres. Among various solutions to boost through-thickness electrical conductivity, tufting with hybrid micro-braided metal-carbon fibre yarns is one of the most promising. As a well-characterised method of through thickness reinforcement, tufting is easily implementable in a manufacturing environment. The hybridisation of materials in the braid promotes the resilience and integrity of yarns, while integrating metal wires opens up a wide range of multifunctional applications. Many configurations can be produced by varying braid patterns and the constituting yarns/wires. A predictive design tool is therefore necessary to select the right material configuration for the desired functional and structural performance. This paper suggests a fast and robust method for generating finite-element models of the braids, validates the prediction of micro-architecture and electrical conductivity, and demonstrates successful manufacturing of composites enhanced with braided tufts. SN - 2522-5774 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s42252-021-00018-0 DO - 10.1186/s42252-021-00018-0 ID - O’Keeffe2021 ER -