Water absorption study on woven jute reinforced unsaturated polyester composite using warm compression moulding with and without lay-up process

Woven jute fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites at 40 vol.% fibre content were fabricated using warm compression moulding at the optimize parameters of 163 degrees C, 4 MPa of pressure and held in the mould for nearly 1069 seconds, with and without additional hand lay-up process. Both composite was immersed in distilled water at 27 degrees C for period of 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 weeks to investigate the effect of the water absorption to their mechanical properties. The water absorption found to be lower in composite fabricated with additional of hand lay-up. The flexural properties were found to decrease with the increase in percentage water uptake. This flexural behaviour could contribute from the effect of plasticization that occurred at the matrix-fibre interface resulting in swelling of the jute fibres.