Development of Glass/Jute Fibers Reinforced Polyester Composite

Hindawi Publishing CorporationIndian Journal of Materials ScienceVolume 2013, Article ID 675264, 6 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/675264

Research ArticleDevelopment of Glass/Jute Fibers ReinforcedPolyester Composite

Amit Bindal,1 Satnam Singh,2 N. K. Batra,1 and Rajesh Khanna1

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala 133203, India2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala 147004, India

Correspondence should be addressed to Satnam Singh; [email protected]

Received 13 August 2013; Accepted 18 September 2013

Academic Editors: A. Kajbafvala and R. Uppaluri

Copyright © 2013 Amit Bindal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Composites play significant role as engineeringmaterial and their use has been increasing day by day due to their specific propertiessuch as high strength to weight ratios, high modulus to weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance. In present work,an attempt is made to hybridize the material using synthetic (glass) as well as natural fibres (chemically treated jute), such thatto reduce the overall use of synthetic reinforcement, to reduce the overall cost, and to enhance the mechanical properties. Allcomposite specimens with different weight percentages of fibres were manufactured using hand lay-up process and testing wasdone by using ASTM standards. Experimental results revealed that hybridization of composite with natural and synthetic fibresshows enhanced tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength. The content of natural reinforcement was found to be inthe range of 25–33.3% for best results. The effect of treated jute on flexural properties was more than that on tensile properties,which was due to greater stiffness of jute fibers. Chemical treatment of jute fibers lowers the water absorption and results werecomparable to glass fiber reinforced polyester composites. The addition of jute also reduced the overall cost by 22.18%.

1. Introduction

The advancement in the field of material science led to manynew and advanced materials. Composites are one of them,which are adopted in various engineering applications. Manyauthors [1–3] stated many properties of polymer reinforcedplastics which makes them suitable for a variety of appli-cations such as aerospace structures, automotive parts, andmarine structures. The extensive use of composites in theseindustries is due to their combined properties of resilience,creep resistance, high strength and stiffness to weight ratios,corrosion resistance, and gooddamping properties.The study[4] showed that the use of natural fibre as reinforcement hadincreasedmany folds in recent years due to new environmen-tal rules and customer demands. The increased demand ofnatural fibre is due to their low cost, low density, biodegrad-ability, renewability, and abundance. The findings of thisstudy [5] showed that the use of natural fibre can be enhancedby proper chemical treatment of fibres which produces bettermechanical properties than untreated fibres. The properties

of hybrid composites were studied bymany researchers [6–8]and they concluded that hybrid composite offers greaterresistance to water absorption, cost saving, weight saving,and increased properties. In present work, hybrid compositeswere manufactured with different weight fractions of rein-forcement and with different weight percentages of differentfibres. These specimens were tested according to the proce-dure mentioned in ASTM standards. The effect of naturalfibre reinforcement on glass fibre reinforced composite wasstudied and mechanical properties were analyzed.

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials. The composite material used in this researchwas manufactured using plain weave mat of E-glass fabrics of0.3mm thickness as synthetic reinforcement. Jute fibres wereused as natural reinforcement and they were dipped for 10minutes in 10% of NaOH solution for chemical treatment asstated by Rokbi et al. [5]. The matrix material was polyesterresin, which is thermoplastic resin andwas supplied by SakshiDyes & Chemicals, New Delhi, India.

2 Indian Journal of Materials Science

Table 1: Experimental results for tensile testing of composites.

Sr. no.Total weight percentage ofreinforcement in composite

Weight percentage of fibersTensile strength (N/mm2)Jute

%Glass%

1 20%0 20 62.210 10 63.3520 0 36.4

2 30%

0 30 68.810 20 74.5915 15 54.6820 10 43.8430 0 41.2

3 40%

0 40 85.6910 30 95.8520 20 69.9830 10 59.0240 0 45.69

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 1: (a) Jute fiber reinforced composite, (b) glass fiber rein-forced composite, and (c) hybrid composite consisting jute and glassfibers.

2.2. Composite Manufacturing Method. There are many tech-niques available in industries for manufacturing of compos-ites such as compression molding, vacuum molding, pul-truding, and resin transfer molding.The hand lay-up processof manufacturing [9] is one of the simplest and easiest meth-ods for manufacturing composites. A primary advantage ofthe hand lay-up technique is to fabricate very large, complexparts with reduced manufacturing times. Additional benefitsare simple equipment and tooling that are relatively lessexpensive than othermanufacturing processes. All compositespecimens were manufactured using hand lay-up process.The prepared specimens are shown in Figure 1.

2.3. Experimental Procedure and Apparatus. All experimen-tal tests were carried out at Central Institute of PlasticEngineering and Technology (CIPET), Murthal, India.

Tensile tests were carried out on rectangular specimensof dimensions 165 × 19 × 4mm at room temperature, by the

method described in ASTM D638 on Autograph machine.Composite specimens were placed in the grips and werepulled at a speed of 5mm/min until failure occurred. Thestrain gauge was used to measure the displacement.

Flexural testing commonly known as three-point bendingtesting was also carried out on autograph machine as perASTMD790. Composite specimens of dimensions 130 × 12 ×4mmwere horizontally placed on two supports and load wasapplied at the centre. The deflection was measured by thegauge placed under the specimen, at the centre.

Impact testing was carried out on Tinius Olsen machineas per procedure mentioned in ASTM D256. Compositespecimens were placed in vertical position (Izod Test) andhammer was released to make impact on specimen and CRTreader gives the reading of impact strength.

Water absorption test was conducted as per ASTMD570.The specimens were first dried in oven, cooled and initialweight was measured. These specimens were immersed inwater for 24 hours at room temperature andwere dried beforefinal weight measurement.

All experimental tests were repeated three times to gen-erate the data.

3. Results and Discussions

3.1. Mechanical Properties. Experimental results of tensiletesting of various composites with different weight fractionsof reinforcement are presented in Table 1. The results showthat addition of natural fibre content in glass fibres increasesthe overall tensile strength of composites. However, naturalfibre content should be lesser than synthetic fibre content.When chemically treated jute was added in the range of33.3% and 25% for total reinforcement of 30% and 40%(Table 1), it supports the glass fibres and tensile strength wasincreased by 8.41% for 30% and by 11.85% for 40% reinforcedhybrid composite than glass fibre reinforced composite andby 81.04% to 109.7% for jute reinforced composites. This

Indian Journal of Materials Science 3

Table 2: Experimental results for flexural testing of composites.


Weight percentage of fibersFlexural strength (N/mm2)Jute

%Glass%

1 20%0 20 68.9510 10 71.3220 0 64.3

2 30%

0 30 82.6810 20 95.3515 15 86.3220 10 90.0030 0 71.12

3 40%

0 40 86.4510 30 102.8320 20 88.3830 10 84.3240 0 82.45

Jute reinforced Glass reinforced HybridComposites

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Tens

ile st

reng

th (N

/mm

2)

20% reinforced30% reinforced40% reinforced

Figure 2: Comparison of tensile strength of various composites.

increase in composite strength was due to increased fibre-matrix interface for chemically treated jute. However, for20% reinforcement, contents of fibres were equally mixedto obtain best strength results. On further increasing jutereinforcement, the composite becomes more brittle as juteshows brittle behavior and overall strength decreases. Thecomparisons of tensile strength for different composites areshown in Figure 2.

The experimental results of flexural tests of compositeswith different weight fractions of reinforcement are presentedin Table 2. Results revealed that both of the fibres showedgood flexural strength in comparison to each other due totheir stiffer behaviour and better fibre/matrix interfacialstrength. However, addition of jute fibre in glass fibre

reinforced polyester composites increased the flexuralstrength when its content was 33.33% and 25% with respectto glass fibres for 30 and 40% reinforced composites. Incomparison to glass reinforced polyester, hybrid compositeshowed increased flexural strength by 15.32% to 18.94% thanglass fibre reinforced composites and 34.06% to 24.71% incomparison to jute reinforced polyester composite. Increasedreinforcement in the terms of jute greater than 33.33% and35% in comparison of glass fibre produces weakening effectrather than strengthening. This is due to the less stiffness ofjute fibres in comparison to glass and also matrix becomesinsufficient to wet the increased natural fibre content. Thecomparisons of flexural strength for various composites areshown in Figure 3.

Impact tests are used in studying the toughness ofmaterial. Generally synthetic fibres produce interface havinglower strength with matrix due to which energy absorptionincreases at these interfaces. A natural fibre exhibits greaterfibre/matrix strength which does not allow energy to beabsorbed at interfaces. Again experimental results revealedthat small addition of jute increases the bonding capabilityand increases the area under stress strain curve and pro-duces greater impact strength. On increasing the amountof jute content, which is more brittle than glass fibre, theoverall brittleness of material increases and impact strengthdecreases. The experimental results of impact tests of com-posites with different weight fraction of reinforcement arepresented in Table 3. On adding jute fibres in glass fibre rein-forced polyester composites, the impact strength increasedwhen content was 33.33%. In comparison to glass rein-forced polyester, hybrid composite showed increased impactstrength by 8% to 12% in comparison to glass reinforcedand 62% to 66% in comparison to jute reinforced polyestercomposite for 30% and 40% total reinforcement. Increasedreinforcement in the content of jute fibers greater than33% for total reinforcement of 30% of and 25% for totalreinforcement of 40% in comparison to glass fibres the impact


Table 3: Experimental results for impact testing of composites.


Weight percentage of fibersImpact strength (J/m2)Jute

%Glass%

1 20%0 20 114.2310 10 124.5620 0 73.56

2 30%

0 30 165.2310 20 181.2515 15 156.6320 10 143.4330 0 115.35

3 40%

0 40 212.3610 30 235.4620 20 190.2630 10 167.2340 0 143.96



0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

110

100

Flex

ural

stre

ngth

(N/m

m2)

Figure 3: Comparison of flexural strength of various composites.

strength decreases. This decrease in impact strength is due tothe increased brittleness and hardness of hybrid compositeswhen jute content increases beyond this percentage (Table 3).The comparisons of impact strength of different compositesare shown in Figure 4.

3.2.Water Absorption Test. Thepercentage of water absorbedby the composites was determined by finding the weightdifference between samples, immersed in water and drysamples using [10]

𝑊(%) = (𝑊𝑖−𝑊𝑓

𝑊𝑖

) × 100%, (1)

240

220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0



Impa

ct st

reng

th (J

/m2)

Figure 4: Comparison of impact strength of various composites.

where 𝑊(%) is the moisture content in percentage, 𝑊𝑓is

weight of wet samples, and𝑊𝑖is initial weight of samples.The

results of water absorption tests are shown in Table 4.The results of water absorption tests revealed that the

amount of water absorbed by particular specimen dependsupon the total weight percentage reinforcement in compos-ite and weight percentage of jute fibers. When jute fiberswere hybridized with glass fibers, the water absorption wasreduced in comparison to jute fiber reinforcements. For40% of total reinforcement, the water absorbed by 10%jute + 30% glass fiber reinforcements was almost the same for40% of glass fiber reinforced composite. It further increasesas jute content was increased from 10 to 40%. For 30%

Indian Journal of Materials Science 5

Table 4: Water absorption results for composite specimens.


Weight percentage of fibersW (%)Jute

%Glass%

1 20%0 20 3.3410 10 3.4220 0 5.24

2 30%

0 30 3.3810 20 3.5115 15 3.5520 10 3.6830 0 5.46

3 40%

0 40 4.1210 30 4.2120 20 4.4630 10 5.2840 0 6.58

reinforcement, the water absorbed by 10% jute + 20% glasswas nearly equal as compared to pure glass reinforcedpolyester composite. For 10% jute hybrid reinforcements,the value of percentage water absorbed was nearly equal toglass fiber reinforced composites. This increased absorptionof water by jute is due to its greater affinity towards water.However, these results are much better than those of theuntreated jute which has greater affinity towards moisturecontent than treated jute. This behavior of alkali-treated juteis due to better interfaces formed by it with polyester resin.

3.3. Cost Analysis. The costs of natural fibers are much lessthan the synthetic fibers due to themanufacturing techniquesand processes required to process synthetic fibers. The priceof fibers per kilogram as provided by the supplier is shown inTable 5. Above findings show that optimum range for naturaljute fiber is around 30% of the total reinforcement. So for theratio of 1 : 3 of natural and synthetic fibers, the cost analysisfor one kg of reinforcement for making hybrid composite isshown in Table 6 which shows cost reduction of 22.18%.

4. Conclusion

The effect of jute fibre on mechanical properties of glass fibrereinforced polyester composite was studied and it showedthat by incorporating the optimum amount of natural fibres,the overall strength of synthetic fibre reinforced polyestercomposite can be increased and cost saving ofmore than 20%can be achieved. Results revealed that natural fibre contentis limited up to 25–35% for 30% and 40% overall reinforce-ment. For 10% reinforcement, the natural fibre content canbe increased up to 50% with respect to glass fibres. Theincrement in mechanical properties is due to the increasedfibre/matrix interfacial strength of chemically treated jutefibres than glass fibres.

Table 5: Cost of fibers per kilogram.

Type of fibers Price (INR)/KgGlass fibers 1500/kgJute fibers 150/kg

Table 6: Cost analysis of composite for fibers ratio 1 : 3.

Weight of fibers Price (INR)250 gm of jute fiber 37.25750 gm of glass fiber 1125Total cost/kg 1162.25Saving/kg (with respect to glass fibers) 332.75Percentage saving 22.18%

Novelty Statement. To the best of author’s knowledge, thedevelopment of glass/jute fibers reinforced polyester com-posite is studied by very few authors. However, the effectof contents of different percentage of fibers on variousmechanical properties was not found in the literature. Thepresent work focuses on determination of tensile strength,flexural strength, impact strength, and water absorptiontests of hybrid composite at different weight percentages ofreinforcements. The weight percentage was further variedamong the synthetic fibers and natural fibers to obtain theoptimum results.

References

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[2] A. K. Haldar, S. Singh, and P. Prince, “Vibration characteristicsof thermoplastic composite,” in Proceedings of AIP conference,Jaipur, India, November 2011.


[3] S. Singh, P. Kumar, and S. K. Jain, “An experimental andnumerical investigation of mechanical properties of glass fiberreinforced polyester composites,” Advanced Materials Letters,vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 567–572, 2012.

[4] E. F. Rodrigues, T. F.Maia, andD. R.Mulinari, “Tensile strengthof polyester resin reinforced sugarcane bagasse fibers modifiedby estherification,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 10, pp. 2348–2352,2011.

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[7] C. K. Subhash and J. K. Michael, “Thick-section AS4-graphite/E-glass/PPS hybrid composites: part II. Flexural response,”Composites Science and Technology, pp. 473–482, 1996.

[8] N. Venkateshwaran, A. Elayaperumal, and G. K. Sathiya, “Pre-diction of tensile properties of hybrid-natural fiber composites,”Composites B, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 793–796, 2012.

[9] J. P. Davim, P. Reis, and C. C. Antonio, “Experimental study ofdrilling glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) manufactured byhand lay-up,” Composites Science and Technology, vol. 64, no. 2,pp. 289–297, 2004.

[10] Z. Salleh, Y. M. Taib, K. M. Hyie, M. Mihat, M. N. Berhan,and M. A. Ghani, “Fracture toughness investigation on longkenaf/woven glass hybrid composite due to water absorptioneffect,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 41, pp. 1667–1673, 2011.

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Development of Glass/Jute Fibers Reinforced Polyester Composite