Abstract:

In order to discover the relationships between auxetic property and energy absorption of warp-knitted spacer fabrics under uniaxial tension, warp and weft tensile were exerted respectively to fabrics with four different knitting structures reconstructed from rotating hexagonal models, and stress-strain curves were obtained and processed so as to evaluate their auxetic properties and energy absorption. Results show that energy absorption of fabrics is determined by both structural deformation capacity and yarn loading capacity in which the latter plays a dominant role while the former has little influence. The effects of auxetic properties on energy absorption are included in the structural deformation capacity. Higher energy absorption comes with better auxetic performance under uniaxial tension with the same yarn loading capacity.

Key words: auxetic, warp-knitted fabric, spacer fabric, energy absorption, quasi-static tensile