Abstract: The effect of reinforcing natural fiber in the form of braided yarn woven fabric on mechanical properties of polymer composite was investigated. The results of braided yarn fabric composites were compared with the conventional yarn fabric composite and random oriented intimately mixed short fiber composites for the same percentage of fiber weight. The effect of intra-ply hybridization, by keeping two different natural fiber yarns along two different directions of a woven fabric, on mechanical properties of the woven fabric composite was also analyzed. Natural fiber braided yarn fabric reinforcement significantly increased the mechanical properties of the composites compared with that of the conventional woven fabric and short fiber reinforcements. Intra-ply hybridization of two different natural fibers improved the mechanical properties of the conventional woven fabric composite while it could not enhance the properties of the braided fabric composite. The improvement in impact property is very high compared to tensile and flexural properties due to the braided yarn fabric reinforcement.

Key words: braided yarn, natural fiber, mechanical properties, fabric