Definition and quantification of drapeability through the measurement of constituent effects

Although considerable work has been carried out in the field of drapeability research, both the definition of what drapeability comprises as well as the tools to measure and quantify it must be further developed. This paper presents a definition of drapeability that is meant to broaden its scope to include not only the important effects of shearing and wrinkling, but all constituent effects such as gap formation, undulations, loops (tow buckling) and fabric anisotropy. This definition is completed by an experimental test device to measure and quantify all of these effects in a single, standardized setup (available as the Textechno Drapetest).The Drapetest utilizes optic measurement technology coupled with digital image analysis software to detect and measure fibre positions and orientation, and fabric topology. For each of the defined drapeability effects characteristic values were generated from this optical data that can describe the intensity, distribution and extent of the effect in question. The device and methodology was empirically validated using a set of 72 specially manufactured glass fibre NCF. The interdependencies between textile design, process parameters and drapeability effects as well as a semi-analytical equation for them are shown. A method to use these semi-analytical equations in the composite design process is introduced [1].