Experimental Study on Impact Behavior of Flax Fiber Reinforced PP Laminates

This paper is aiming to research the impact behavior of flax fiber reinforced PP laminates considering the end use of the products. Flax yarn and Polypropylene (PP) filaments were twisted together with three fiber volume fraction 0.45, 0.50 and 0.60 to form the commingled yarns which were woven into fabrics as prepreg with plain and twill structures respectively. The prepregs of different layers were pressed into flax reinforced PP composites in the process of hot-pressing. The laminates with different fiber volume fraction, layer, and woven structure were tested and analyzed respectively aiming at the impact resistibility in succession. SEM micrograph of the impact fracutured surface was observed and analyzed as well. The results reveal that the impact properties of laminates with twill structures are prior to those of laminates with plain structures when other technical parameters are the same. The ability of impact resistibility of flax reinforced PP laminates improves with the increase of the fibre volume fraction, layer amount and impact velocity respectively in this research.