Natural fibre based composites are garnering attention owing to their optimal trade-off between mechanical
properties and environmental sustainability properties. It has been proposed that they could
potentially replace synthetic and mineral fibre composites due to their minimized impact on human
health and the natural environment. Though several studies have been dedicated to understanding
certain mechanical properties like strength and fatigue life, fewer reported studies have focused on their
response to impact or shock loads. In the present work, we have performed shock tests using a shock
tube on flax/epoxy and flax/polypropylene unidirectional and cross-ply laminated composites. The objectives
are, to compare the blast-resistance of polypropylene against epoxy in their use as matrix in flax
ereinforced composites, and, secondly to assess the performance of cross-ply over unidirectional fiber
orientation. The present results showed that the cross-ply samples retained their structural integrity at
peak pressures that were sufficient to break unidirectional samples, indicating that cross-ply samples are
superior candidates for applications where shock loading needs to be factored in. Furthermore, we also
qualitatively assessed the failure modes predominant in each of the studied orientations.