Effect of Weave Structure and Yarn Density on Mechanical Attributes of Jute Fabric Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

This paper represents a comparative study of the different weave structures of jute woven fabric reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites. The weave structures were selected as plain (1/1), twill (2/1), twill (3/1) and basket (2/2). Composites (40% fiber by wt.) were prepared by using compression molding technique. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength (TS), bending strength (BS) and impact strength (IS) of the composites were evaluated and compared. It was found that basket weave/PP based composite showed the highest mechanical properties. The optimum value of TS, BS, TM, BM and IS of the composite were found to be 49.7 MPa, 92.5 MPa, 867 MPa, 5.6 GPa and 29.8 KJ/m2.To find out the effect of yarn density on mechanical properties of the composites, 2/1 twill structure was selected and found significant improvement in the mechanical properties with the increase of Ends/Inch (EPI) and Picks/Inch (PPI) in the fabric. Water uptake and degradation behavior in aqueous medium of the composites was also observed.