Structure-property relationships of 3D woven fabric composites: A critical review through bibliometric and content analyses

3D fabric composites generally have significant thickness in a monolithic structure eliminating the need for multi-ply laminates. 3D fabric preforms have given significant boost to the composite industry by reducing one of the major failure modes, i.e., delamination. In the past few decades, an enormous amount of researches has been conducted in the domain of 3D woven fabric composites highlighting their structure-property relationships. There are 459 research articles related to 3D fabric composites in Scopus-indexed journals. The objective of this review is to summarise the extant literature, highlighting the current research trends, thematic research areas, structure-property relationships, and future research directions of 3D fabric composites. This review amalgamates bibliometric and content analyses to identify the dominant research themes within the 3D woven composite area. Content analysis of the research papers has revealed that the properties of 3D fabric composites depend on structural parameters such as weave design, binding step, binding depth, and stuffer-to-binder ratio. However, the results of these studies on the role of structural parameters are often divergent, implying that there is a need for more systematic research on the structure-property relationships of 3D fabric composites.