A study on mechanical behavior of surface modified jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Composites are materials consisting of two or more chemically distinct constituents on a macro scale having a distinct interface separating them and having bulk behavior which is considerably different from any of the constituents. In current age natural fiber is more delightful material because of its many advantages such as low density, nontoxic, nonabrasive, radially available in nature and is cost effective. A lot of work has been done in this particular area all over the world over the use of natural fibers as reinforcement for preparing different varieties of composites. Due to incompatibility between polymer and fiber it is more to likely form unwanted substances during processing and the poor resistance to moisture, reduce the use of the natural fibers as reinforcements in polymer. To this end, an attempt has been made to study the effects of chemical treatment on mechanical behavior of jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Composites are fabricated using simple hand lay-up technique. It has been observed that there is a significant effect of surface treatment of fiber on the mechanical behavior of composites. Finally, the morphology of fractured surfaces is examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).