Woven Kenaf/Kevlar Hybrid Yarn as Potential Fiber Reinforced for Anti-Ballistic Composite Material

Woven Kenaf/Kevlar Hybrid Yarn is the combination of natural and synthetic fibers in the form of thread or yarn. The yarn is weaved to form a fabric type of fiber reinforced material. Then, the fabric is fabricated with epoxy as the resin to form a hybrid composite. For composite fabrication, woven fabric Kenaf/Kevlar hybrid yarn composite was prepared with vacuum bagging hand lay-up method. Woven fabric Kenaf/Kevlar hybrid yarn composite was fabricated with total fiber content of 40 % and 60 % of Epoxy as the matrix. The fiber ratios of Kenaf/Kevlar hybrid yarn were varied in weight fraction of 30/70, 50/50 and 70/30 respectively. The composites of woven fabric Kenaf/Epoxy and woven fabric Kevlar/Epoxy were also fabricated for comparison. The mechanical properties of five (5) samples composites were tested accordingly. Result has shown that of value of strength and modulus woven fabric Kenaf/Kevlar Hybrid Yarn composite was increased when the Kevlar fiber content increased. Therefore, among the hybrid composite samples result showed the woven fabric Kenaf/Kevlar Hybrid Yarn composites with the composition of 30/70 ratio has exhibited the highest energy absorption with 148.8 J which 28 % lower than Kevlar 100 % sample. The finding indicated there is a potential combination of natural fiber with synthetic fiber that can be fabricated as the composite material for the application of high performance product.