Light Reinforcement

Light reinforcement: laid scrims instead of woven fabrics

Reinforcement means strengthening a sensitive product or object with another, protective material. The reinforcing material is applied to, bonded with or embedded in the surface of the object. “Light” means that the reinforcement must be suitable for lightweight products.

It protects products against:

• Compressive loads and impact
• Tensile loads
• Friction
• Very high or very low temperatures
• Chemical reactions (corrosion from acids and alkalis, e.g. alkali-resistant to DIN 53857; rust and oxidation from contact with water, etc.)
• Wear

BAFATEX^® offers BAFA^® laid scrims as an ideal alternative to woven fabrics for lightweight reinforcement. Unlike conventional woven fabrics, laid scrims have a multiaxial structure (see image). They can combine different yarn materials and be impregnated with application-specific binders (soft, hard, heat-sealable, waterproof, flame-retardant).

Properties for lightweight reinforcement

Technical textiles are a proven way to make products that act as lightweight reinforcement.

BAFA^® laid scrims give products the properties customers expect from light reinforcement:

• Stability
• Depending on the material, higher or lower extensibility and flexibility than conventional woven fabrics
• Properties of several materials can be combined
• Lower weight
• Air permeability where required
• Low cost

The properties of BAFATEX^® laid scrims can be tailored through several variables:

• Material (from jute and flax to polyester and viscose to glass fibre, Kevlar® and carbon)
• Yarn count
• Yarn spacing
• Elongation at break (1.7–23 %)
• Breaking force (2.2–448 N)
• Tenacity (13–355 cN/tex)
• Material combinations and their properties
• Crossing angle of the yarns (and thus force transmission)
• Colours
• Impregnation (prepregs)

Applications

Light reinforcement is used mainly – but not only – in construction. It prevents cracking in interior and exterior plaster and screed, and stabilises existing cracks. Damage to crack-sensitive tiles and floor coverings can also be prevented or at least minimised.

In ships, boats, spacecraft and protective vests, the focus is on absorbing impacts.

Whether in aircraft and vehicle manufacturing, sports equipment, prostheses, machine enclosures or entirely new products: BAFATEX^® laid scrims extend what products can do.