Stitch-Bonded Multiaxial Multi-Ply Fabrics for Composites: A Survey of Recent Patents

This article summarizes the state of the art as documented in recent patent applications concerning the production of stitch-bonded multi-plies for usage in fiber-reinforced composites. Stitch-bonded materials have proven to hold great potential and are currently in use for a number of large-scale applications especially in the wind energy industry. Accordingly, technological progress is being documented in the patent literature on all stages of the production process of such fabrics, i. e. the design of the stitch-bonding machines, the production process and the textile fabrics themselves. Applicants for such patents are likewise to be found along the production chain. Most active in patenting their inventions are machine manufacturers, producers of textile preforms, end-users, and research institutions. While some of these inventions relate to minor process improvements or have found no industrial application so far, some of the granted patents were widely discussed, since they have widespread implications on the work of all competitors of the respective patentee.