Mechanical Behavior of Polyester-Based Woven Jute/Glass Hybrid Composites

In polymer composite fabrication system, hybridization of jute fibers with synthetic fibers is one of the techniques adopted to overcome some of the limitations (poor mechanical properties and moisture resistance) that have been identified for jute fiber reinforced composites. In the present study, the effect of hybridization on mechanical properties of jute and glass mat reinforced polyester composites has been evaluated experimentally. The composites were made of glass mat, jute mat and varying layers of jute and glass mat in the polyester matrix by applying hand lay-up technique at room temperature (250C). The values of mechanical properties obtained from tensile, flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests show significant improvement with the increase of glass fiber content in hybrid composites. But the positive contribution from glass mat in increasing of ILSS of composite is limited to some extent and the optimum ILSS is achieved when glass-jute incorporated in composite as 50-50 weight basis. SEM images were used to study the modes of fracture, fiber-matrix adhesion, and jute-glass layer adhesion. The fracture surfaces resulted from different tests clearly show that cracks propagate throughout the polyester matrix by tearing the jute mat and delaminating the glass mat.