Tensile response of braided structures: a review

Braiding is a highly versatile and cost-effective method of producing structures that has been successfully used for numerous applications ranging from ropes, composites, biomedical uses, insulation to sports and recreation activities, and the list of applications of braided structures is ever-increasing. The prediction of tensile property is a pre-requisite for the success of deployment of braided structures in these applications. This paper reviews the key parameters that control the tensile properties of biaxial and triaxial braided structures along with the models developed for these braids by various researchers with different fields of interest. In general, the tensile properties of braided structures are strongly dependent upon their architecture and the kinematics and mechanics involved in the braid formation. Furthermore, various approaches and methodologies have also been presented for the tensile models of braids consisting of an elastic core and multi-layered structures.