Carbon Fiber Braided Sleeves

Braided carbon fiber sleeves are commonly used in the composites industry simply because they enable lower finished composite costs.  Braided reinforcements present composite fabricators with a variety of opportunities to be more cost effective because of a unique combination of attributes.  Most fabricators realize substantial savings in lay-up labor costs compared to the alternative use of fabric which must be cut, wrapped, and overlapped.  Because of its "Chinese finger trap" feature, biaxial braid easily and repeatably expands to fit over molding tools or cores, accommodating straight, uniform cross-section forms as well as non-linear, irregular crossection components.  Braided sleeves are, in essence, near net-shape pre-forms.