Mechanical behaviour of texturised jute and polypropylene blended needle-punched

Cross-laid nonwoven fabrics of 80, 120 and 160 punches/cm(2) have been prepared from chemically-texturized jute (TJ) and blends of TJ and polypropylene (PP), using TJ as a major constituent, and the effects of blend proportion and punch density on flexural rigidity, density, tensile behaviour, stress relaxation and response to cyclic loading studied. Blending of PP with TJ improves the tenacity, initial modulus and extension at break of the nonwoven fabric at all levels of punch density. Stress decay suffered by the fabric subjected to stress relaxation is higher for the blended fabric in comparison to the TJ fabric at both low and high extension levels. Extension cycling lowers the tenacity of TJ and 80:20 TJ/PP fabrics. Permanent set suffered by the blended fabrics is generally lower in comparison to TJ fabric.