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Fibre reinforced ceramic components are most efficiently produced by the braiding technique. Since the braiding angle can be adjusted during the preform fabrication process in a wide range as required by the loading situation of the composite, the evaluation and prediction of the elastic properties as a function of variable braiding angles is of high importance. Based on the classical laminate theory an inverse method for the determination of the elastic properties of an equivalent unidirectional ply is elaborated and applied to predict the effect of variable braiding angles. Orthogonal and non-orthogonal braided carbon/carbon composites were tested under in-plane tensile and shear loading in order to validate the analytical concept. A very good correlation between theoretical and experimental results was obtained.