Abstract
Woven jute fabric was used as a reinforcing material for making two types of composite, named Jute/PR and Jute/Epoxy, with two different matrixes of polyester resin and epoxy, respectively, by hand layup techniques. Five different doses of gamma radiation from 100 to 500 krad were used to investigate the effects of the mechanical properties of the composites and the jute fabrics. Though gamma radiation improved the mechanical properties, such as the tensile strength (TS) and Young’s modulus (Y), and decreased the elongation at break % (Eb%) of the composites, it deteriorated all these properties for jute fabrics. The highest values of TS and Y and the lowest value of Eb% were found to be 39.44 Mpa, 1218.33 Mpa, and 7.68% for the Jute/PR; and 48.83 Mpa, 1459.67 Mpa, and 3.68% for the Jute/Epoxy composites, respectively, at a 300 krad gamma radiation dose. A further increase in dose altered all these properties; thus, 300 krad was found to be the optimum dose for both of the composites. Between the two composites, gamma radiation influenced the Jute/PR composite more than the Jute/Epoxy composite.
Highlights
With the increase in environmental consciousness, community interest, and new environmental regulations, the use of environmentally friendly materials is increasing day by day [1,2]
We found some interesting results on the elongation properties of natural composite materials after gamma radiation that influence us to complete further investigation [38]
Young’s modulus (Y)—of jute fabrics was monitored (all at break percentage (Eb%), and Young’s modulus (Y)—of jute fabrics was monitored
Summary
With the increase in environmental consciousness, community interest, and new environmental regulations, the use of environmentally friendly materials is increasing day by day [1,2]. Natural fibers are considered an eco-friendly material, and replace synthetic materials and their related products for lower weight and energy conservation applications [3,4]. A variety of natural fibers such as banana, jute, flax, pineapple leaf, bamboo, eucalyptus pulp, coconut, palm, sansevieria leaf, sisal, sugarcane fiber, cotton, ramie bast, date, malva, abaca leaf, kenaf bast, and hemp are being used as reinforcing materials in polymer composite materials to diversify their application from the automotive to biomedical fields [5,6]. Natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites (NFRPC) are extensively attractive in diversified applications from household to aerospace settings due to their light weight, biodegradability, renewability, high strength, high stiffness, good corrosion resistivity, enhanced energy recovery, lower fabrication cost, and many more [7,8,9,10,11]. Jute is one of the cheap ligno-cellulosic fibers available in fiber and fabric form, and this fiber is the most promising reinforcement material for the production of bio-composites and bio-plastics due to its high content of cellulose (61–72%), Fibers 2020, 8, 58; doi:10.3390/fib8090058 www.mdpi.com/journal/fibers
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