Abstract
Fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composite materials for engineering structures are now commonplace. Their low densities, combined with high strength and high stiffness, provide many benefits in performance and durability; when combined with the expertise of the current generation of engineers and materials scientists prepared to accept the complexity of designing and fabricating structures using anisotropic materials, the range of applications (from human prosthetics to airplane fuselages) becomes less surprising. Whereas thirty years ago, the majority of high-performance composite materials were manufactured from individual layers of unidirectionally reinforced material, textile-reinforced polymer matrix composites are increasingly used today. This chapter begins with a brief introduction to continuous fibre-reinforced composite materials before describing the various major types of textile-reinforced polymer matrix composite materials based on the following fabric types: two-dimensional woven, braided, knitted, stitched, three-dimensional woven. In each case, an introduction to the mechanical and damage accumulation behaviour, as well as approaches to modelling the composite, are provided.