|
|
 |
|
Viewing report
|
|
|
|
Fibres and Fabrics for Advanced Sailcloth
Textiles Intelligence, April 2004, Pages: 16
The world of luxury yacht racing is mostly a recreational activity for the very affluent. Such people have the means to employ the best technicians and materials in pursuit of record breaking achievements—particularly in the USA, Australia and Europe.
In developing sails for high speed yachts, manufacturers started to explore new fibres, fabric constructions and yarn/film combinations when polyester began to replace cotton in the 1950s.
The next step was to replace polyester with aramids. But in recent years, aramids have been challenged by a family of polyethylene and liquid crystal polymer fibres. Most recently, carbon fibre has emerged as the latest fibre for sailcloth, just as it has also emerged as the base for composite structural parts for yachts.
Meanwhile, the construction of sails has progressed from simple woven structures to advanced woven constructions, and further to sophisticated laminates of film and fabric.
|
|
|
|
