Effect of Fiber Length on Properties of Jute Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composite

Abstract

Natural fibers have recently become attractive as an alternative reinforcement for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites due to their low cost, fairly good mechanical properties, high specific strength, non-abrasive, eco-friendly and bio-degradability characteristics. In this work, an investigation is carried out on jute fiber, a natural fiber that has gained interest in the composite field due to its superior specific properties compared to manmade synthetic fibers. The present work describes the development of natural fiber based composites consisting of raw jute fiber as reinforcement and polystyrene as matrix material. 5% (w/w) jute fiber fillers of lengths 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm respectively were prepared. The composites were fabricated using hand lay-up molding technique. Mechanical properties of the developed composites were investigated using Tensile, Flexural and Hardness Tests. Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was further done to fully understand the stability of the composites. The Critical fiber length required for Raw Jute Fiber Reinforced Polymer matrix composite was also determined and the properties were compared with respect to critical fiber length. The results reveal that, the mechanical properties of polystyrene based composites are substantially improved on account of the addition of the jute fiber reinforcement. Significant amount of improvement is achieved for 20 mm and 30 mm fiber length composites.