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absorbing and bending DOI: 10.1177/15280837231159136
journals.sagepub.com/home/jit

properties of 3D gradient
structured woven composites:
experiment and simulation

Wenbin Yao1, Huawei Zhang1, Xinghai Zhou1, Yuan Gao1,

Liwei Wu2 and Lihua Lyu1 

Abstract
In order to prepare 3D structural composites with electromagnetic wave absorption and
load-bearing, 3D gradient structured woven fabrics were woven with basalt fiber filament
yarn and carbon fiber filament yarn as raw materials on a common loom with rational
design. After that, the three-dimensional gradient structured woven fabric was used as the
reinforcing material, epoxy resin was used as the matrix, and carbonyl iron powder (CIP)
and carbon black (CB), the electromagnetic wave absorbers, were added. In this paper, a
vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding method was used to fabricate composite materials
with three-dimensional structures. Finally, the experimental and simulation analysis
techniques were used to analyze the absorbing and mechanical properties of the 3D
gradient structured woven composites. The results show that the error value of the peak
reflection loss is 10.6% in the simulation of electromagnetic wave absorption perfor-
mance, and the error value of the maximum bending load is 2.37% in the simulation of
mechanical performance. The theoretical simulation results and experimental results
were in good agreement, which proved the validity of the electromagnetic wave

1
School of Textile and Material Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, China
2
Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China

Corresponding author:
Lihua Lyu, School of Textile and Material Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.
Email: lvlh@dlpu.edu.cn
Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use,
reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as
specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
2 Journal of Industrial Textiles

absorbing model and finite element model. The experimental and simulation analyses
revealed the material’s electromagnetic wave absorbing mechanism and bending damage
mechanism and provided some theoretical guidance for designing 3D gradient structured
woven composites with integrated load-bearing and electromagnetic wave absorbing
functions.

Keywords
3D gradient structure, electromagnetic wave absorbing performance, bending
performance, electromagnetic simulation, finite element analysis

Introduction
With the advent of the 5G era, electronic products have been more widely used in national
defense, medical, military, and civil fields. At the same time, it also brings serious
problems, such as electromagnetic wave interference and radiation pollution. In the
civilian field, it is reported that people are exposed to electromagnetic waves for a long
time, which can cause calcium loss and then visual impairment, leukemia, and other
diseases. In the military field, electromagnetic wave interference brings adverse effects on
the reliability of weapon systems, such as faulty intelligence, inability to detect enemy
targets, and uncontrolled aircraft flight, as shown in Figure 1.1 According to the forming
process and load-bearing capacity of electromagnetic wave-absorbing materials, they are

Figure 1. Structural design, application of electromagnetic wave absorbing materials.

Yao et al. 3

classified into coated and structural types. The coated absorbing material uses a binder to
evenly distribute the absorbing agent on the object’s surface, which has the advantages of
low cost, convenient operation, and high applicability (various complex shapes).
However, it has the disadvantages of non-uniform coating, easy peeling of the layer, high
post-maintenance cost, poor mechanical properties, narrow absorption bandwidth, and
single absorption band.2–5 Structural electromagnetic wave-absorbing materials are
designed with a reasonable structure that allows electromagnetic waves to be reflected,
transmitted, scattered, or even interfered with within the material, thus consuming the
energy of electromagnetic waves for wave absorption. However, due to the unique
structure of structural electromagnetic wave absorbing materials, the composite materials
prepared by this method will sacrifice a large part of the mechanical properties, resulting
in structural electromagnetic wave absorbing materials cannot being used for the main
load-bearing structure alone.2 Developing composite materials with integrated load-
bearing and absorbing structural functions using efficient and low-cost methods is an
important research direction for structural electromagnetic wave absorbing composites.
Among the structural absorbing materials, honeycomb sandwich structured material
plays an important role. Honeycomb sandwich structured material is a composite material
gradually developed in the 1950s, which can be used as part of the main load-bearing
structure and as an excellent carrier of electromagnetic wave absorbing materials and
absorbing media. However, most of the current honeycomb sandwich structure wave-
absorbing materials are made by bonding flat materials and then pressed and shaped.
Honeycomb wave-absorbing composites are processed by layering fabric or flat materials,
gluing them at the corresponding parts, and shaping them. Although this method is
simple, the structural parts lack integrity, and the bonded areas are prone to cracking when
in a high temperature and high humidity environment or subjected to alternating external
forces6–9 (as shown in Figure 2).
Xiaogang Chen, University of Manchester, UK, Runjun Sun, Xi’an University of
Engineering, and Jialu Li and Xi Jiang, Tianjin University of Technology, China10–14
investigated the electromagnetic properties of three-dimensional woven composites

Figure 2. Honeycomb sandwich structured electromagnetic wave absorbing material.

4 Journal of Industrial Textiles

(flat-plate composites with three-dimensional orthogonal, angle-interlocked and in-

terlocked structures) and flat-plate three-dimensional woven fabrics. It provides new
ideas for the application of three-dimensional woven fabrics and their composites in the
field of electromagnetic wave absorption. The 3D woven fabrics and their composites
have solved the problems of poor mechanical properties and severe delamination of the
current standard honeycomb sandwich structured absorbing materials. Still, their mass
is heavy, the absorbing band is narrow, and the absorbing performance is poor.
For the defects of low absorption strength and narrow absorption bandwidth of ab-
sorbing composites, some scholars introduced the gradient structure into absorbing
composites based on the characteristics of the honeycomb structure and the impedance
matching principle. Gradient structured absorbing composites are designed based on
traditional honeycomb absorbing composites with more excellent absorbing and me-
chanical properties. Rinaldi et al.15 prepared a new three-layer density gradient hon-
eycomb structured absorbing core by using different concentrations of graphene slurry
infiltrated with aramid honeycomb paper, which was laminated with a mask to prepare
electromagnetic wave absorbing composites. The test results showed that the reflection
loss of the composite was below 20 dB in the range of 8–12 GHz, demonstrating that the
gradient honeycomb structure could effectively broaden the absorption band. Luo et al.16
proposed a new method to prepare a two-layer honeycomb sandwich structure absorber. A
double-layer honeycomb sandwich structure absorber with a flaky carbonyl iron powder/
epoxy resin composite at the bottom was designed with an absorber layer thickness of
9 mm. The results showed that the double-layer honeycomb sandwich structured absorber
has lightweight and broadband absorption characteristics and promising applications in
reducing the radiation and interference of electromagnetic waves. In addition, Kwak et al.17
fabricated a honeycomb sandwich absorbing composite consisting of a two-layer hon-
eycomb core and a three-layer composite shell using nickel-plated glass/epoxy resin. The
results show that the absorption properties can be reduced in the frequency range of 2–
18 GHz, the cross-sectional area of the wing-like structure can be reduced, and the material
has good prospects in aerospace. Meanwhile, Pei et al.18 prepared a new 3D gradient
honeycomb structured composite using 3D printing technology with polyethylene tere-
phthalate glycol (PETG) as the matrix, carbonyl iron particles (CIPs) and copper (Cu) flakes
as the absorbing materials. Younes et al.19 used 3D printing technology to print a gradient
honeycomb structure. They coated it with iron tetroxide nanoparticles and multi-walled
carbon nanotubes to fabricate new gradient honeycomb wave-absorbing composites. Tests
showed that the reflection loss (RL) exceeded 10 dB for all incident angles of 0°–60°
under transverse electric wave conditions. The maximum RL reached 40 dB at an incident
angle of 15° and a frequency of 11.8 GHz. In addition, the RL was more excellent
than 10 dB for X-band transverse magnetic wave conditions within an incident angle of
0°–90°. Within an incident angle of 0°–30° at a frequency of 11.6–12.4 GHz, the maximum
RL is more significant than 20 dB. Comparing this paper with previously published
experiments of the same type, the double-layer rectangular structure used in this paper has
better electromagnetic wave absorption performance than the double-layer triangular
structure. Zhang et al.20 showed a maximum bending load of 3530 N, an RLmin
of 21.6 dB, and an EAB of 1.8 GHz for the three-dimensional gradient composite with the
Yao et al. 5

double-layer triangular structure. The above literature shows that the absorption strength
and band of gradient-structured absorbing composites are significantly improved compared
with traditional honeycomb absorbing composites. Still, most gradient design absorbing
composites are prepared by lamination and 3D printing, which destroy the integrated
structure of the material. Therefore, the delamination damage of the material is joint when
the material is in a wet and hot environment or under alternating external forces.
This thesis designs a 3D gradient structure woven composite material that integrates
load-bearing and wave absorption. The material is based on monolithic woven fabric as
the reinforcing phase and resin blend absorbent as the matrix, with critical fiber rein-
forcement design and excellent mechanical and wave absorption properties. It has the
advantages of good integrity, structural stability, and electromagnetic wave absorbing
performance. Therefore, the mechanical properties, damage modes, and failure mech-
anisms of 3D gradient structured woven composites need further clarification. Moreover,
their electromagnetic wave absorbing mechanism and properties must be further elu-
cidated. Then, the internal connection, interaction mechanism, and matching principle
between their mechanical properties and electromagnetic wave absorbing properties need
to be further explored.

Experimental material and methods

Experimental materials and equipment
800 tex basalt filament yarn, Zhejiang Shijin Basalt Fiber Co., Ltd; 800 tex carbon fiber
filament yarn, Zhongfu Shenyang Carbon Fiber Co. Spraying Co.
SGA 598 general loom, Jiangyin Tongyuan Spinning Machine Co., Ltd; JSM-7800F
field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), Japan Electron Corporation; JEM-
2100UHR transmission electron microscope (TEM), Japan Electron Corporation; TH-
8102S servo computerized universal material testing machine, Suzhou Topper Machinery
Equipment Co. Agilent 8720B Vector Network Analyzer, Shenzhen Guoxiong Electronic
Instruments Co., Ltd; Agilent E5071C Vector Network Analyzer, Shenzhen Hongsheng
Instrument Technology Co.

Design and preparation of 3D gradient structured woven composites

Design of 3D gradient structured woven fabric. The organizational structure of 3D gradient
structured woven fabric are shown in Figure 3. The lines were warped yarn interweaving
trajectories, and the circles were weft yarn interweaving trajectories. The blue lines and
circles indicated basalt fiber filament yarns, and the black lines and circles told carbon
fiber. The picture of the 3D gradient structured woven fabric is shown in Figure 4 and the
fabric thickness was 18.5 mm.

Preparation of 3D gradient structured woven composites. Compared with traditional

manufacturing methods, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) technology
has become extensively used in the fabrication of gradient microwave-absorbing
6 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 3. Organizational structure of 3D gradient structured woven fabric. (1) Warp cross-
sectional diagram (2) Organizational chart diagram.

Figure 4. Picture of 3D gradient structured woven fabric.

composites due to its merits of low cost and high efficiency. In addition, large-scale
composite materials can realize automatic mass production through the VARTM process.
The vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process is shown in Figure 5.
The electromagnetic wave absorbing resin was as follows: CB, CIP, and epoxy resin with
mass percentages of 1%:45%:54% were mixed and mechanically stirred in a mechanical
stirrer for 9 min (Figure 5a). And the resulting resin mixture was ultrasonically dispersed
at 75% power for 25 min. The dispersed resin mixture was defoamed under a vacuum for
25 min to cool down and defoam Then add the accelerator with a specified mass ratio
(epoxy resin: Accelerator = 1:0.33) to the resin mixture and put it on the magnetic stirrer
for 7 min. The obtained solution was vacuumed in a vacuum oven (24°C) for 1 h, the
material was shaped at 80°C for 2 h. The process diagram of composite preparation is
shown in Figure 5. The dimensions of the specimen are: the upper rectangle is 8.5 mm ×
8 mm; the lower rectangle is 6.5 mm × 4 mm; and the overall height is 18.5 mm.
Yao et al. 7

Figure 5. Electromagnetic wave absorber manufacturing process and VATRM diagram.

CIP, CB and CB/CIP/epoxy resin microscopic morphology characterization. Figure 6 shows the
microscopic morphology of CIP, CB, and CB/CIP/epoxy resin (1%:45%:54% by mass).
To observe the smaller size nanoscale CB particles more clearly, TEM was used to
characterize the microscopic morphology of CB, as shown in Figure 6a. The CB particles
are thin sheets with a particle size of 20–30 nm. The CB particles tend to stack and cluster
with each other, which contributes to the formation of conductive chains and conductive
networks. According to the SEM images in Figure 6b, the microscopic shape of CIP is
approximate “onion head” with particle size between 3 and –5 μm, and the particles form a
stacked state. The smooth surface is conducive to the subsequent adsorption and cross-
linking with epoxy resin. In the SEM image of Figure 6c, the overall dispersion is good,
although a small amount of CIP accumulation appears in the matrix. Due to the ag-
gregation effect of nanomaterials, the nanoscale CB particles in the resin were aggregated
into large irregular particles of 10–15 μm, which were uniformly dispersed in the resin.
Meanwhile, although a significant accumulation of CB particles occurred, some un-
agglomerated particles were uniformly dispersed inside the resin that was not observed. In
addition, a small amount of debonding occurred between the CIP and the epoxy resin due
to external damage during the sample preparation.

Performance test
Electromagnetic wave absorbing properties. The reflection loss test of the 3D gradient
structured woven composites was conducted according to the standard GJB 2038-94, as
8 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 6. Micrographs of CIP, CB, and CIP/EP/CB.

shown in Figure 7, and the incident and returned electromagnetic waves were analyzed by
the vector network analyzer.

Bending properties. As shown in Figure 8, the three-point bending performance of 3D

gradient structured woven composites was tested on the TH-8102S servo computerized
universal material testing machine (Suzhou Topper Mechanical Equipment Co., Ltd.).
According to GB/T 9341-2008/ISO 178:2001, the bending performance of the 3D
gradient structured woven composites was tested.
Yao et al. 9

Figure 7. Schematic diagram of bow test system.

Figure 8. Schematic diagram of three-point bending experiment.

Electromagnetic wave absorbing properties

Modeling
The CST software performed simulations on an 8-core processor, 16 threads, and a 32G
memory processor. Basic assumptions: (1) The absorbent is uniformly dispersed in the
material, and there are no bubbles in the 3D gradient structured woven composite interior.
(2) Ignore the raw material defects in the 3D gradient structured woven composites,
i.e., all yarns are intact, the particle size of absorbent is uniform, the material is cracked
and porous inside the material, and the material is in ideal condition. It is shown in
Figure 9.

Comparative analysis of experimental and simulative results

The experimental and simulative results of the 3D gradient structured woven composites
are shown in Figure 10. According to the experimental results, the RLmin of the 3D
gradient structured woven composite is 24.4 dB (5.8 GHz), and the EAB was 5.3 GHz
(2.2 GHz–2.6 GHz, 5.1 GHz–6.7 GHz, 8.4 GHz–11.7 GHz), and the absorption
bandwidth below 5 dB covers almost the whole frequency band from 2 to 18 GHz. The
trend of simulative results was similar to the experimental results, but there was a de-
viation in RLmin. The lowest reflection loss peak points obtained from both experiment
and simulation occurred in the C band. However, the lowest reflection loss peak point
10 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 9. Boundary condition setting.

Figure 10. Experimental and simulative RL curves.

obtained from the simulation occurred at 6.5 GHz, the lowest reflection loss was 27 dB,
the lowest reflection loss obtained from the experiment occurred at 5.8 GHz, and the
lowest reflection loss was 24.4 dB. The error value of the peak value was 10.6%. The
experimental and simulative values of the 3D gradient structured woven composites had
similar curve trends. Here are two reasons for the deviation in the value of the reflection
loss, (1) incorrect electromagnetic parameters of the material due to the inhomogeneity of
the gradient aperture. (2) In the VARYM process, the irregular movement of the resin
leads to the absorbent’s uneven dispersion, which results in the deviation of the reflection
loss values. Despite the deviations in experimental and simulation results, it was still a
good guide for designing woven composites with 3D gradient structures.
Yao et al. 11

Analysis of electromagnetic wave absorbing mechanism

The field monitor was set at 6.5 GHz to analyze the mechanism of electromagnetic wave
absorption performance of 3D gradient structured woven composites in depth. Figure 11
shows the field distribution of 3D gradient structured woven composite at 6.5 GHz.
According to Figure 11, the internal electric and magnetic fields of the 3D gradient
structured woven composite showed a horizontal and vertical overlap at 6.5 GHz. Ac-
cording to the numerical distribution, it can be concluded that the magnetic field strength
was weaker compared to the electric field strength. The vortex phenomenon existed in the
structural layer with a larger aperture diameter. The electric field distribution and magnetic
field bottom of the vortex region was relatively dense with better electromagnetic wave
loss capability. Combined with the surface current field distribution in Figure 11c, the
existence of the eddy current region could be seen more clearly. It can be seen from the
current power that the bottom layer of the composite had the highest recent intensity,
followed by the middle layer and the lowest current intensity at the surface. This current
field distribution confirms that the bottom layer of the material had a high reflection
characteristic, and the impedance-matching performance of the surface layer was rela-
tively good compared to the other two layers. Meanwhile, the energy fielded distribution
in Figures 11d and e showed that the main effects of the electromagnetic wave loss were
electrical and magnetic failures. Among them, the role of electric loss was more
pronounced.
Figure 12 shows the schematic diagram of the electromagnetic wave absorption
performance of 3D gradient structured woven composites. The main factors affecting the
electromagnetic wave absorption performance of 3D gradient structured woven com-
posites were electrical loss, magnetic loss, and path loss due to the structure. 3D gradient
structured woven composites also derive from the synergistic effect of multiple media and
unique structural design.

Mechanical property analysis

Modeling
ABAQUS software was used for simulation analysis and calculation. We made the
following assumptions to simplify the calculation and reduce the complexity of the model:
(1) The electromagnetic wave absorber was uniformly dispersed in the 3D gradient
structured woven composite, and there were no air bubbles inside the 3D gradient
structured woven composite. (2) Raw material defects in 3D gradient structured woven
composites were ignored. All yarns were intact, the particle size of the electromagnetic
wave absorber was uniform, the cracks and pores in the material were in ideal condition,
and the resin and yarns were well bonded. The material property parameters used in the
finite element simulation are shown in Table 1.
The simulation parameters for 3D gradient structured woven composites generally
include nine constant engineering parameters, mainly elastic and plastic.
12 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 11. Distribution of simulated energy field results at 6.5 GHz.

Yao et al. 13

Figure 12. Electromagnetic wave absorption mechanism of 3D gradient structured woven

composites.

The upper surface of the model was constrained to the upper indenter contact surface,
and the lower surface was constrained to the two support members. To reduce the
computational effort of the model in the actual simulation calculation and to control the
displacement motion of the composite model, displacement constraints were applied to
14 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Table 1. Mechanical property parameters of composite materials.

Material E11/GPa E22/GPa E33/GPa V12 V13 V23 G12/GPa G13/GPa G23/GPa

Composite 165 30 30 0.28 0.28 0.25 57.5 57.5 11.3

material

the coupling control points of the material. To reduce the computational effort of the
model in the actual simulation calculation and to control the displacement motion of the
composite model, displacement constraints were applied to the coupling control points of
the material. Total fixed constraints U1 = U3 = UR1 = UR2 = UR3 = 0 and U2 = 8 are
applied to the lower surface of the model to obtain the composite model with strict
boundary condition constraints. The boundary condition constraint diagram of the
composite model is shown in Figure 13.
In this paper, the hexahedral mesh using C3D8R was used to divide the composite
model with a complex shape section, and the number of meshes of the model was shown
in Table 2.
The model meshing diagram of a 3D gradient structured woven composite is shown in
Figure 14.

Comparative analysis of experimental and the simulation results

The load-displacement curves of 3D gradient structured woven composites under bending
simulation were obtained by finite element simulation of 3D gradient structured woven
composites using field output. The load-displacement curves of the experimental and
FEM simulations of 3D gradient structured woven composites are shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15 shows that the total load obtained from the simulation was 8.311 kN, and the
maximum load obtained from the experiment was 8.118 kN, with an error value of 2.37%.
The experimental results and simulation results were in good agreement.
It can be seen from Figure 15 that the bending loaded displacement curve of the
simulation and experiment was divided into three stages. In the first stage, the material had
no obvious fracture, so the material had good elastic properties, and the curve was linear.
In the second stage, the large pore structure was mainly destroyed due to the different pore
sizes of the upper and lower layers. Still, the dense structured and carbon fiber filament in
the lower layer was not destroyed, so the line segment was still linear, but the slope
decreased. In the third stage, the composite continues to bear the load of the upper indenter
until it reaches the maximum yield point, and the load-displacement curve will reach the
peak value. After that, the composite failure of the material occurs, the whole material is
destroyed, and the angle will decrease significantly. The root cause of the error compared
to the experimental values is the subjective conditions given during the simulation
calculations. This resulted in a more uniform distribution of material components in the
simulated composites than in reality, without unexpected states such as uneven resin
infiltration and porosity caused by the operation. In the actual bending test experiment, the
Yao et al. 15

Figure 13. Load setting of model.

Table 2. Number of elements of 3D gradient structured woven composites.

Items Number of grids

Composite material 23349

rough surface of the material causes the indenter to act on the material gradually. In
contrast, in the simulation process, the model’s uniform and smooth texture make the
upper indenter’s load act on the material evenly from the beginning of loading, resulting in
a smoother simulated load-displacement curve. There was no evident decline compared
with the experimental data.

Analysis of failure mode and mechanism

Figure 16 shows the finite element simulation failure diagram of the composites;
Figure 17 shows the damaged morphology of the 3D gradient structured woven com-
posites. Figure 18 shows the final failure diagram of the experimental test, and Figure 19
16 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 14. Mesh division of 3D gradient structured type woven composite model.

Figure 15. Load-displacement curves of the experiment and the simulation.

Figure 16. Final failure diagram of finite element simulation.

Yao et al. 17

Figure 17. 3D gradient structured woven composites damage morphology diagram. (a) Overall
damage pattern diagram. (b) Top damage pattern diagram (c) Side damage pattern diagram (d)
Bottom damage pattern diagram.

Figure 18. Physical final failure diagram.

shows the stress variation of the composite material deformed during the cyclic loading
process. From Figures 16 and 19, it can be seen that the damage mode of 3D gradient
structured type woven composites was consistent with the damage mode and mechanism
of experimental results. The materials during the bending experiments did not exhibit
delamination, which proves that the 3D gradient structured woven composites were
highly resistant to delamination and had good integrity.
18 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 19. Stress cloud of composite material at different time.

Since the simulation time during the ABAQUS mechanical simulation was 1 unit
duration. Therefore, Figures 19a-h corresponded to the stress program at times 0, 0.14,
0.29, 0.43, 0.51, 0.71, 0.86, and 1, respectively. It can be observed from the figure that the
3D gradient structured woven composite under bending load undergoes deformation
damage, and the part in contact with the upper indenter was severely damaged, with
stresses spreading from the middle position to the ends of the material.
As can be seen from Figure 16, the 3D gradient woven composite was subjected to a
displacement constraint in the opposite direction along the Z-axis. The material was
always in the middle of the indenter during the three-point bending test, so the material’s
middle position was symmetric, buckling deformation occurred, and the whole material
protruded outward. The upper indenter causes a symmetrical distribution of low-stress
areas on both sides of the central stress concentration of the material. In contrast, the upper
surface of the composite material was subjected to compressive stresses due to the
compression of the upper indenter, resulting in downward depression. In contrast, the
lower surface was subjected to tensile stresses due to the transfer of load and the load
support of the base on the material, resulting in fiber pulling and resin cracking.
Comparing the final damage of the actual object in Figures 17 and 18, it can be seen that
the upper and lower surfaces were subjected to different loading forms. The surface
Yao et al. 19

depression simulated by the finite element method was the depression of the whole
structure. In contrast, the dents in the actual experimental samples were mainly con-
centrated in the contact area of the indenter. The simulation model was ideal, while the
solid empirical material is not homogeneous.
The simulations showed that the damage pattern of the composite material was
consistent with the damage pattern and mechanism of the experimental results. The
simulation results showed that the failure mode and mechanism of the composite were
consistent with the experimental results. The material did not show delamination during
the bending test, which proved that the 3D gradient structured woven composite had
strong delamination resistance and good integrity.

Conclusion
Two-layer 3D gradient structured woven fabrics with rectangular were woven on an
ordinary loom with basalt fiber filament yarns and carbon fiber filament yarns as raw
materials. The 3D gradient structured woven composites were produced by mixing
electromagnetic wave absorbers carbon black and carbonyl iron powder in the resin and
using VARTM molding technology.
This paper compares the experimental and simulation results, and the composites’
mechanical properties and electromagnetic wave absorption properties were analyzed.
The absorption bandwidth of 3D gradient structured woven composites is below - 5 dB,
almost covering the 2–18 GHz full frequency band. The lowest peak point of reflection
loss obtained by electromagnetic simulation and experiment is in the C-band. The lowest
reflection loss peak point from the simulation is at 6.5 GHz. The lowest reflection loss
is 27 dB. The lowest reflection loss peak point from the experiment is at 5.8 GHz. The
lowest reflection loss is 24.4 dB. The comparison peak error is 10.6%. In terms of
mechanics, the maximum load obtained from the simulation is 8.311 kN, and the full load
obtained from the experiment is 8.118 kN, with an error value of 2.37%. The load-
displacement curves of the 3D gradient structured woven composite obtained using the
general static solver roughly match the experimental curves. Through the finite element
simulation analysis, under the bending load, the 3D gradient structured woven composite
was deformed and damaged, the contact part with the upper indenter was seriously
injured, and the stress spread from the middle to both ends of the material. The damage
patterns and mechanisms obtained from mechanical simulations and bending experiments
prove that the 3D gradient structured woven composites have good integrity.
This study provides a new 3D gradient structured electromagnetic wave absorbing
composite material. The material has good electromagnetic wave absorption performance
and mechanical properties, effectively improving the electromagnetic wave absorption
performance and integrity of the absorbing material. This article provides a new idea for
preparing new gradient-structured electromagnetic wave absorbing composites.
20 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/
or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article: This research was funded by the National Science Foundation of Liaoning
Province (1645749635925), the Open Project Program of Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for
Advanced Textile Composite Materials (Tiangong University), No. MATC-2021-003, the Science
and Technology Innovation Foundation (Science and technology benefiting people project) of
Dalian (2022JJ13SN099) and Shenghong emergency support and public safety fiber materials and
products research project (2022-rw0302).

ORCID iD
Lihua Lyu  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7601-7509

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