Mechanical and impact properties of untreated jute fabric reinforced polyester laminates compared with different E-glass fibre reinforced laminates

Abstract

In recent years, the improvement of properties of natural fibre reinforced laminates over the pure polymeric matrix has been thoroughly investigated with the aim of providing a possible replacement of E-glass fibre reinforced composites for some large-volume applications. In the present study, the properties of a jute/polyester laminate are compared with those yielded by two E-glass fibre woven laminates. These are an E-glass/polypropylene commingled twill weave laminate (®Twintex) and a plain woven-roving E-glass/polyester composite. These two materials are representative of a large part of glass fibre reinforced laminates currently used, since Twintex is widely used e.g., in automotive industry, while glass mat/polyester laminates are still very popular in naval applications. All the materials have a 60% wt. fibre content. A number of tests were carried out, including mechanical tests, interlaminar shear strength tests, Charpy impact and falling weight impact tests. After that, the consolidation of the composites was investigated by interlaminar shear strength tests and observing the porosity present in the materials under an optical microscope. The results confirm the concerns regarding impact performance of natural fibre reinforced composites. Moreover, mechanical and impact properties on jute fibre reinforced composites show significant scattering, that makes it difficult to measure the maximum load values that can safely be applied to these materials during their service. This variation of properties is due mainly to irregular fibre fraction in the composite and to the scattering in properties between the single fibres and fibre bundles. In spite of this, the mechanical and impact properties of jute/polyester laminates as a whole proved promising.