Flat-knitted spacer fabrics offer a strong potential for complex shape preforms, which could be used to manufacture composites with reduced waste and shorter production times. A reinforced spacer fabric made of individual surface layers and joined with connecting layers shows improved mechanical properties for lightweight applications, such as textile-based sandwich preforms. We report the development of flat-knitted multi-layered innovative three-dimensional (3D) spacer fabrics from hybrid yarns consisting of glass and polypropylene filaments. Moreover, for structural health monitoring of composites, sensor networks could be created into a 3D spacer fabric structure in a single processing step through innovative integration of functional yarns.
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