Directional breaking strain of single-bar closed warp-knitted structures

Warp-knitted structures are widely used in many fields (medical textiles, household textiles, reinforcement for composites, …) owing to their special geometrical, mechanical, and physical properties. Their unique yet typical mechanical behavior is attributed to loops and underlaps in their structure. Herein, we investigated the relationship between warp-knitted-structure breaking strain and changes in their underlap lengths. We developed an original structural model of closed warp-knitted structures in a highly deformed state. Further, we defined two main stages during the straining of knitted structures. Finally, we verified the variation in the breaking strain of knitted structures with various underlap lengths using the developed model and experimental results.