Jute Fiber Reinforced Biocomposite: Towards Developing Composite Bone Plate

Abstract

Bone fractures are often treated with metallic bone plates which are inherited some fundamental issues such as stress shielding, bone atrophy, heavyweight, corrosion, and so on. This work aims to develop a jute epoxy composite to investigate its feasibility to use as a composite bone plate. In this work, the natural fiber-based composite made of jute extracted from the jute plant and epoxy resin obtained from LAPOX® METALAM - B is studied experimentally. The mechanical properties such as tensile, compressive, and bending strength of jute/epoxy composite were measured using the universal testing machine (UTM). Moisture absorption test and scanning electron microscope (SEM) image analysis were also performed. The preliminary results suggest that the jute/epoxy composite could be a potential material for a composite bone plate. However, further detailed studies are required to confirm its applicability as a composite bone plate.