Spacer fabrics are good for impact force absorption and have the potential for vibration isolation. Inlay knitting of additional material to the spacer fabrics can give reinforcement to the structure. This study aims to investigate the vibration isolation properties of three-layer sandwich fabrics with silicone inlay. The effect of the presence of the inlay, inlay patterns and materials on the fabric geometry, vibration transmissibility and compression behaviour were evaluated. The results showed that the silicone inlay increases the unevenness of the fabric surface. The fabric using polyamide monofilament as the spacer yarn in the middle layer creates more internal resonance than that using polyester monofilament. Silicone hollow tubes inlay increases the magnitude of damping vibration isolation, whereas inlaid silicone foam tubes have the opposite effect. Spacer fabric with silicone hollow tubes inlaid by tuck stitches has not only high compression stiffness but also becomes dynamic, showing several resonance frequencies within the tested frequency range. The findings show the possibility of the silicone inlaid spacer fabric and provide a reference for developing vibration isolation materials with knitted structure and textiles materials.
Keywords: 3D knitted fabric; damping; inlay; silicone tube; spacer structure; vibration transmissibility.