Abstract
Weft knitted composites have a very complex reinforcement structure which affects their mechanical
behaviour. Six kinds of weft knitted fabric reinforcement were examined in this study. These were a group of
knitted reinforcements without inlays: Rib, Milano and Interlock and a group with inlays: Rib Inlay, Milano
Inlay and Interlock Inlay. The knitting and performing parameters were varied but the fibre volume fraction
was kept constant within the two groups. In all cases the fibre used was E-glass. After knitting, the fabrics
were infused with epoxy resin using a resin transfer moulding (RTM) process. The mechanical properties of
the cured composites were then determined in the wale direction using the tension test, compression test,
flexural test, short beam shear test and Izod impact test. The results showed that the knitting and preforming
parameters strongly influenced the mechanical properties of the weft knitted glass/epoxy composites.