Tensile behaviour of hybrid nonwovens prepared from homogeneous and layerwise blending of kevlar and polypropylene fibers

Abstract

In this work, stronger but less extensible kevlar fibers are blended with weaker but more extensible polypropylene fibers at different weight percentages to prepare hybrid nonwovens by employing carding and needle-punching techniques. The modulus, strength, and ultimate elongation of polypropylene nonwovens under uni-axial and bi-axial loads are investigated at the beginning. The load carrying capacity of polypropylene nonwovens is found to be dependent on the areal density of fibres, specimen geometry, and loading state. Thereafter, the tensile behaviour of homogeneous and layerwise-blended kevlar–polypropylene hybrid nonwovens under uni-axial load is examined. It is observed that the homogeneously blended nonwovens exhibit higher tensile modulus and strength than the layerwise-blended nonwovens. This is ascribed due to the higher tensile force developed in kevlar nonwoven resulting from higher fiber tensile force, higher fiber orientation, and lower fiber slippage.

Keywords:

• Kevlar
• polypropylene
• homogeneous blending
• layerwise blending
• hybrid nonwoven
• tensile behavior
• biaxial load

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.