Evaluation of tensile strength and slurry erosive behaviour of jute reinforced natural rubber based flexible composite

Abstract

Polymer based natural fiber reinforced composites are finding their applications in almost all fields of engineering. Flexible composites are different class of composite materials finding their usage in secondary structural application such as sacrificial structures like claddings. Mechanical and tribological characterization of the newly developed composites becomes important prior to using them in any engineering application. The present study concentrates on evaluating the tensile and slurry erosive behaviour of flexible composite manufactured by reinforcing naturally available jute fiber in the form of woven fabric in the naturally available sun dried rubber sheets (NR) using compression moulding technique. ASTM D412 standard is used to evaluate the tensile properties of the proposed flexible composite and the NR sheets. The slurry erosive behaviour is assessed using Ducom slurry erosion testing machine. The results reveal that reinforcing jute with natural rubber enhances the tensile strength compared to natural rubber sheet and the wear of the proposed flexible composite is minimal due to inclusion of natural rubber which is elastic in nature.