Mechanical and tribological properties of chemically modified jute/epoxy composites

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present work is to assess the effectiveness of low-cost and environmental friendly chemical modification of jute fibres based on the usage of sodium hydroxide (AT), sodium carbonate (ST) and sodium hydrogen carbonate (SHT) on the morphological, water absorption, mechanical and tribological characteristics of jute fibre-reinforced epoxy composites (JFREC). Mechanical properties like tensile strength, tensile modulus and impact strength showed appreciable improvement for the AT JFREC (38.08%, 30.56% and 31.66%), ST JFREC (70.03%, 33.06% and 41.30%) and SHT JFREC (24.69%, 8.88% and 22.61%) when compared to untreated JFREC. The experimental results also confirmed that the improved fibre-matrix adhesion, attained by chemical modification, increased the water absorption resistance and the tribological properties of chemically modified JFREC. Improved mechanical and tribological properties attained by the chemically modified JFREC can be found as a potential application in automotive and packaging industries.

KEYWORDS:

• Jute fibres
• chemical treatment
• epoxy
• mechanical properties
• tribological properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).