Fatigue Property of Unidirectional Jute Fiber Sliver/Poly(Lactic Acid) Green Composite

Abstract

In this study, fatigue property of green composite using unidirectional jute fiber sliver and poly (lactic acid) resin was investigated for a long term safety of sustainable structural materials. The fiber volume fraction of green composite was about10%. The green composite plate was fabricated by using jute fiber sliver/poly (lactic acid) resin prepreg. The molding method was vacuum compression molding method. The quasi-static tensile and fatigue tests of green composites were conducted under room temperature. The maximum number of cycle to failure was 106 cycles. Fracture surfaces of green composites were observed after fatigue and static tensile tests. Following conclusions were obtained. The fatigue strength of green composite decreased with an increase of number of cycle. The fatigue strength at 105 cycles of green composite was 50% of the tensile strength. From surface observation, the fiber pull-out in fracture surface of green composite were not found after quasi-static tensile and fatigue tests. Therefore, fatigue property of green composite using low addition amount of jute fiber sliver might be dominated by fatigue property of poly (lactic acid) resin.