A Topological Study of Textile Structures. Part I: An Introduction to Topological Methods

This paper proposes a new systematic approach for the description and classification of textile structures based on topological principles. It is shown that textile structures can be considered as a specific case of knots or links and can be represented by diagrams on a torus. This enables modern methods of knot theory to be applied to the study of the topology of textiles. The basics of knot theory are briefly introduced. Some specific matters relating to the application of these methods to textiles are discussed, including enumeration of textile structures and topological invariants of doubly-periodic structures.