Abstract
Braids provide excellent preform in reinforcing composite materials. But the type of braided structure in use has depended simply on the availability of the braiding machine. Some traditional braids are highly complicated and show a variety of braiding structures where we may find more rational structures that may lead to a replacement of the present braids. The goal of this study is to obtain the mechanically rational braiding structure. We prepared 3 traditional braids with different braided structures. The 3D path of the braids was estimated by newly developed bundle path diagram method. For comparison, slices of cross-section of the braids were captured and the bundle orientations were visualized by the volume reconstruction technique by a computer. The braided structures determined by the bundle path diagram method showed good agreement with those visualized by the 3D volume reconstruction technique.
