Effect of Hot Water Immersion on the Mechanical Properties of Jute and Jute Hybrid Reinforced Composites

Abstract

As well known, the corrosion resistance and durability of the material are always considered in the safety design of the materials. In this study, the jute fabric from recycled coffee bags was used to fabricate ecologically friendly composites. Jute fabrics with two kinds of different moisture contents were used to fabricate the natural fiber reinforced composites, and the hot water immersion properties have been evaluated. Additionally, the effects of the hybridization with glass woven fabric laminated structures were also investigated. Jute/Jute laminated composite, Jute/Jute/Glass, and Glass/Jute/Glass laminated hybrid composites had been fabricated by hand lay up method. A preliminary investigation on the effect of moisture contents of the jute fabric on the mechanical properties of the jute and jute/glass hybrid composites was discussed based on the results of 3 point bending test. Moreover, the durability of the composites in the hot water immersion was also evaluated. The effects of hot water immersion on the mechanical properties were investigated by the way of 3 point bending test. The specimens were immersed in hot water maintained at 80°C with the immersion time of 24, 120 and 240 hours. Specimens were taken out from the hot water at the same time and repeated the 3 point bending test after each immersion time and the weight changes had been measured. Results showed that the Jute/Jute composite absorbed water easily, and it could be noted that all of the natural dried composites showed comparable higher water absorbed value to the deeply dried ones. The bending strength after aging decreased remarkably. In particularly, all of the natural dried composites showed higher bending strength than the deeply dried one before aging. However, after 120 hours aging, on the contrary, almost the deeply dried composites showed comparable higher value to the natural dried ones. That could be due to the better bonding between fiber and matrix for the deeply dried composites which decreased the water absorption of the composites. Additionally, the hybrid structure is effective in protecting the composites from water absorbing especially for the Glass/Jute/Glass hybrid one.