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The aim of the present study is to investigate the mechanical, thermal and water absorption properties, and to perform
dynamic mechanical analysis of jute fibre reinforced epoxy composite. The mechanical properties of the jute composites
such as tensile, flexural and impact are investigated in this study. The dynamic mechanical analysis has been done in terms
of storage modulus, loss modulus and damping parameter within the temperature range 30° - 200° C. The thermogravimetric
analysis is used to measure the weight loss as a function of temperature. Thermal properties such as glass transition
temperature, crystallization temperature, decomposition temperature, and enthalpy are obtained from differential scanning
calorimetry studies. It is observed that the addition of jute fibre up to 30 wt. % in epoxy matrix increases the mechanical,
thermal and water absorption properties.
Keywords: Dynamic mechanical analysis, Jute fibre, Mechanical properties, Thermal properties, Water absorption properties
thermal property of prepared jute composites are fibre burns without melting at high temperature.
studied using Thermogravimetric Analysis(TGA) and The thermal properties of jute fibre are ignition
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Moreover, temperature (193C) and specific heat (1360 J/kg/K),
Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) in terms of which shows good thermal insulation of jute.
storage modulus E ' , loss modulus E" and damping
2.2 Fabrication of Composites
parameter Tan are also studied in this investigation. The composites were fabricated by reinforcing
jute fibres with unidirectional alignment in epoxy
2 Materials and Methods matrix by hand-lay-up technique followed by static
Jute fibre reinforced epoxy composite was prepared compression. A stainless steel mould having
in the laboratory. The specification of materials and dimensions of 500 × 300 × 3 mm3 was used. A
fabrication process are described below. releasing agent was used to facilitate easy removal of
2.1 Materials the composite from the mould after curing. The cast
Jute fibres were used as reinforcement and epoxy of each composite was cured under a load of 50 kg for
(AY 105) as a matrix. Jute fibre and epoxy matrix 24 h before it was removed from mould. Dimension
were purchased from local resource. of specimens was cut as per ASTM standard using a
diamond cutter. The composites manufactured
2.1.1 Matrix
with varying wt % of fibres are designated as J15
Epoxy resin is made by reacting epichlorohydrin
(15 wt % of jute fibre), J20 (20 wt % of jute fibre),
with bis-phenol A. The reaction between these two
J25 (25 wt % of jute fibre) and J30 (30 wt % of
compounds removes unreacted phenol, acetone and
jute fibre).
attached two glycidyle groups, producing diglycidyl
ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The standard name of 2.3 Characterizations of Composites
diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A is epoxy resin. The fabricated composites were tested for
Various molecular weights of epoxy resin can be mechanical, thermal, water absorption properties and
obtained by varying relationship between dynamic mechanical analysis.
epichlorohydrin and bis-phenol A. In formula of
epoxy resin, if n = 0, molecular weight of epoxy resin 2.3.1 Tensile Test
is 340, for n = 1 molecular weight is 624, whereas for Tinius Olsen H 10 K-L (Bi-axial testing machine)
n = 2 molecular weight is found 908. was used to obtain tensile properties of the composite
To convert epoxy resin to epoxy plastic, a reaction samples with a crosshead speed of 2 mm/min,
with suitable material is required. Such type of operated at room temperature. Tests were conducted
material is called hardener (curing agent). The most as per ASTM D638 with dimension 165mm × 20 mm ×
widely used curing agent is primary and secondary 3mm. Five specimens of each composite were tested
amines such as diethylene triamine. and average values were reported.
Epoxy is a thermosetting polymer that cures when 2.3.2 Flexural Test
mixed with a hardener. Epoxy resin of grade AY105, Flexural properties of the composites were
having 1.11 g/cm3 density and 11.79 Pa.s dynamic measured using a three point bending test on Tinius
viscosity at 25 ºC, was used in this work. Epoxy was Olsen H10 K-L (Bi-axial testing machine). The
cured with hardener HY951. The matrix materials sample was prepared for the flexural test with
were prepared with a mixture of epoxy and hardener dimensions (80mm × 12.7mm × 3mm) as per ASTM
at a ratio of 10:1 as recommended10. D790. The flexural test was carried out at room
temperature with the crosshead speed of 2 mm/min.
2.1.2 Reinforcement
Flexural strength and flexural modulus were
Jute (Corchorus capsularis) was used as
calculated using the following equation 6:
reinforcement. The physical and mechanical
properties of jute fibre are density (1.3g/m³), diameter 3FL m L3
Flexural strength = and flexural modulus = … (1)
(25-200 µm), elongation at break (1.5-1.8 %), tensile 2bd 2 4bd 3
strength (393-773MPa) and young’s modulus
(26.5 GPa), and chemical composition is cellulose where F is the ultimate failure load (N); L , the span
(61-71%), lignin (12-13%), microfibrillar angle (80), length (mm); b and d , the width and thickness of
wax (0.5%) and hemi-cellulose (14-20%)11-13. Jute specimen in (mm) respectively; and m , the slope of
66 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., MARCH 2017
tangent to the initial line portion of the load- where m is the slope of linear portion of the sorption
displacement curve. Five specimens of each curve; and t , the initial sample thickness in (mm).
composite were tested and average values were The permeability of water molecules through the
reported. composite sample depends on the sorption of water by
the fibres. Therefore, the sorption coefficients which
2.3.3 Impact Test
are related to the equilibrium sorption, was calculated
Tinius Olsen Impact 104 machine was used to
by the following equation10:
obtain impact properties of jute fibre composite
samples. The sample was prepared for the impact test Sorption coefficient (S) = W / Wt … (4)
with dimensions 65mm × 12.7mm × 3mm and where W and Wt are the percentage of water uptake
2.5 mm notch thickness as per ASTM D 256. Five
specimens of each composite were tested and average at infinite time and at time t .
values were reported. The permeability coefficient P (mm2/s), which
implies the net effect of sorption and diffusion, was
2.3.4 Statistical Analysis calculated by the following equation10:
Statistical analysis is required to know that test is
Permeability coefficient ( P) D S … (5)
significant or not. Null hypothesis shows that there is
no difference between samples. If p value, calculated 2.3.6 Thermogravimetric Analysis
from T-test or ANOVA is less than 0.05, then null Thermal stability of the composite was assessed
hypothesis can be rejected, however it is considered if using the thermogravimetric Perkin Elmer TGA 4000
p value is greater than 0.05. T-test and analysis of apparatus. TGA measurements were carried out on
15-25 mg sample placed in a platinum pan, heated
variance (ANOVA) were used to find out the
from 30º-800 ºC at a heating rate of 10 ºC / min in a
statistical analysis of tensile, flexural and impact test. nitrogen atmosphere with a flow rate of 20 mL/min to
Probability value p =0.05 was considered as an avoid unwanted oxidation.
analytical of significance compared to the control
2.3.7 Differential Scanning Calorimetry
composite (J15).
The thermal properties i.e. glass transition
2.3.5 Water Absorption Properties temperature (Tg), crystallization temperature (Tc),
Water absorption behavior of jute fibre reinforced decomposition temperature (Td) and enthalpy of
polymer composite was investigated as per ASTM D epoxy and jute composites were studied by using
570. The specimens were submerged in water at room differential scanning calorimetry (Perkin Elmer model
temperature to study the kinetics of water absorption DSC 4000). The experiments were carried out in the
behavior. The samples were taken out periodically temperature range 30° – 400 °C at heat flow rate of
with period of 12 h and weighed immediately. 10 °C/min under nitrogen atmosphere purged at
The content of water absorption by sample was 20 mL/min and using aluminum pan. Nitrogen was
observed using a precise 4-digit balance. The used for the efficient heat transfer and removal of
percentage of water absorption was calculated using volatiles from the samples.
the following equation: 2.3.8 Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
Viscoelastic properties of fibre reinforced polymer
w2 w1
Water absorption (%) = × 100 … (2) composites depend on the nature of the matrix,
w1 reinforcement and fibre–matrix interfaces. The
viscoelastic properties of epoxy and jute composites
Where w1 is the weight before soaking into water (g); were studied by using the dynamic mechanical
and w2, the weight after soaking into water (g). analyzer (Seiko instruments DMA 6100). The
Diffusion coefficient is generally prescribed for a viscoelastic properties were determined in 3 point
given pair of species. The kinetic parameter, diffusion bending test at 1 Hz frequency as a function of
coefficient (mm2/s) was calculated by the following temperature. The composites are cut into samples
equation10: having dimensions of 50 mm ×13 mm × 3 mm
t 2m2 according to ASTM D 5023. Experiments were
Diffusion coefficient D = 2
… (3)
16W carried out in the temperature range 30°–200° at
GUPTA & SRIVASTAVA: JUTE FIBRE REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE 67
heating rate of 10°/min. The viscoelastic properties difference between composites (Table 1). The results
such as storage modulus, loss modulus and damping of tensile properties of present composite as compared
parameter of the specimens were measured. to other composites are given in Table 2.
Table 1—Tensile, flexural and impact properties of epoxy and jute composites
Composite Tensile strength Tensile modulus Flexural strength Flexural modulus Impact strength Impact energy
MPa GPa MPa GPa kJ/m2 J
Epoxy 33.86 3.59 0.71 0.06 118.73 10.49 5.78 0.48 5.67 0.35 0.14 0.01
J15 55.33 3.34 1.13 0.06 99.36 8.30 5.73 0.32 8.79 0.70 0.28 0.02
J20 61.78 3.86 1.23 0.15 146.23 11.94 7.37 0.53 9.02 0.67 0.29 0.03
J25 77.15 5.13 1.42 0.13 165.35 6.79 9.73 0.50 9.92 0.87 0.34 0.03
J30 78.21 6.12 1.52 0.13 203.48 17.34 9.76 0.82 13.89 0.98 0.35 0.02
Table 2—Comparison of mechanical properties of some natural fibre polymer composites from published work
Reinforcement Matrix Tensile Tensile Flexural Flexural modulus Impact strength Ref.
strength, MPa modulus, GPa strength, MPa GPa J/m
Pineapple leaf fibre Polyester 52.90 2.29 80.20 2.76 80.30 14
Kenaf Polypropylene 26.90 2.70 43.10 2.30 43.80 15
Borassus fruit fibre Polypropylene 29.29 2.58 45.34 1.46 28.61 16
Coir Polypropylene 26.14 2.21 42.67 1.83 21.99 16
Jute Polypropylene 29.40 2.49 48.76 1.70 22.53 16
Sisal Polypropylene 28.05 2.64 48.77 1.43 25.98 16
Banana Epoxy 16.12 0.64 57.33 8.92 39.75 10
Sisal Epoxy 21.20 0.72 62.04 9.34 67.62 10
Jute Epoxy 78.21 1.52 203.48 9.76 44.41 Present work
68 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., MARCH 2017
Table 1. Similar to tensile and flexural tests results, linear in beginning and then slows down till it
impact properties of jute fibre reinforced epoxy approaches saturation point. This process is very
composites are found to be increased with increasing similar to Fickian diffusion process. The sorption,
jute fibre content up to 30 wt %, in epoxy matrix. diffusion and permeability coefficient of jute fibre
Impact strength (13.89kJ/m2) and impact energy reinforced epoxy composite are calculated and
(0.35J) are found maximum for the composite J30, tabulated in Table 3. The composite J20 shows the
which are more than 145% and 150% respectively as lowest sorption coefficient and J30 shows the lowest
compared to epoxy. The composite J30 shows the diffusion and permeability coefficient due to strong
maximum impact strength and impact energy due to adhesion between fibres and matrix.
strong adhesion between jute fibres and epoxy
matrix. The impact strength is found 58, 54 and 40% 3.3 TGA of Jute Composite
higher and impact energy is found 25, 21 and 3 % Figure 2 shows the TGA results of jute fibre
higher than composites J15, J20 and J25 reinforced epoxy composite. There are three
respectively. According to statistical analysis, the significant regions of weight loss due to rise in
values of impact strength and impact energy are temperature. The initial low temperature weight loss
found to be significant as compared to the J15 of composites is due to the removal of moisture from
composite. The results of ANOVA also show the composite, major weight loss due to degradation and
significant difference between composites (Table 1). volatization of epoxy along with jute fibres present
The results of impact properties of present jute fibre in composites and the residue that are formed
reinforced epoxy composite are also compared with after degradation requires higher temperature for
other composites (Table 2). subsequent degradation. The initial, major and final
weight loss and their corresponding temperature are
3.2 Water Absorption Properties given in Table 4. The major weight loss of the
The water absorption (%) of jute fibre reinforced composite J30 occurs at 510 ºC. Here degradation
epoxy composite is plotted against the square root of is shifted to higher temperature which shows
time (Fig. 1). The water absorption increases with increased thermal stability due to stronger adhesion
increasing fibre content in all cases. The composite between fibres and matrix as compared to all
J30 shows water absorption i.e. 4.8, 36 and 6.2% other composites.
more than composites J15, J20 and J25 respectively.
The increasing water absorption in jute fibres is due to Table 3—Sorption, diffusion and permeability coefficient
its hydrophilic nature and greater interfacial area of jute composites
between fibre and matrix. The water absorption by Composites Water uptake Sorption Diffusion Permeability
epoxy is almost negligible due to its hydrophobic at infinite coefficient coefficient coefficient (P)
nature. The water absorption for all composites is time, % (S) (D), mm2/s mm2/s
J15 4.14 1.91 1.242E-5 2.372E-05
J20 5.30 1.50 2.039E-5 3.058E-05
J25 5.37 1.84 1.361E-5 2.504E-05
J30 5.63 2.10 1.058E-5 2.217E-05
Fig. 1—Water absorption of jute composites as a function of Fig. 2—Variation in weight loss of epoxy and jute composites
square root of time with temperature
GUPTA & SRIVASTAVA: JUTE FIBRE REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE 69
Table 4—Initial and final weight loss and temperature of epoxy and jute composite
Composites Initial weight loss Initial weight loss Major weight loss, % Major weight loss Final weight loss
% temperature, ºC temperature, ºC temperature, ºC
Epoxy 5 330 75 450 679
J15 5 305 75 481 668
J20 5 293 75 468 671
J25 5 280 75 513 683
J30 5 286 75 510 698
3.4 Differential Scanning Calorimetry Table 5—DSC results for epoxy and jute composites
Thermal properties of epoxy and jute fibre Composite Tg , °C Tc , °C Td ,°C
reinforced epoxy composites such as glass transition Epoxy 65.16 110.53 345-350
temperature (Tg), crystallization temperature Tc , J15 67.18 115.70 343-346
decomposition temperature (Td) and enthalpy are J20 66.15 113.67 344-350
obtained from DSC studies and summarized in J25 66.98 109.00 348-354
J30 69.17 110.38 352-357
Table 5. The corresponding data are plotted in Fig. 3.
During analysis, composite absorbs heat when being
melted and release heat during degradation. The
results suggest that glass transition temperature (Tg)
lies between 64 °C and 69 °C, crystallization
temperature lies between 111 °C and 116 °C, whereas
decomposition temperature lies between 335 °C and
345°C. The composite J30 shows the higher melting
point due to strong adhesion between fibres and
matrix. There is no significant change in the value of
enthalpy for epoxy and jute composites. The
measured enthalpy of epoxy and jute composites are
28.45 and 28.46 J/g respectively.
3.5 Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
The DMA was performed on the composite Fig. 3—Variation in heat flow with temperature of epoxy and
composites
samples to study its viscoelastic properties. Figure 4-6
show the variation in E ' , E " and Tan of the epoxy
and jute composites as a function of temperature at a
frequency of 1 Hz.
3.5.1 Storage Modulus
The maximum energy stored by material during
one cycle of oscillation is known as storage modulus
(E'). It also gives an idea of temperature-dependant
stiffness behaviour and load-bearing capability of the
composite material17. Figure 4 shows the variation in
storage modulus of epoxy and jute composites as a
function of temperature. On comparing different
composites it is found that the value of E ' an Fig. 4—Variation in storage modulus with temperature of epoxy
increases with increase in the weight fraction of jute and jute composites
fibres in the composites up to 25 wt%. The value of the epoxy and jute composites decrease as temperature
E ' is found 3.65 GPa for epoxy in the glassy region is increased due to loss in stiffness of fibres. It can be
but this value is found to increase up to 4.87 GPa for seen from Fig. 4 that the jute composites have a gradual
the composite J25. This may be due to reinforcement fall in the value of E ' when temperature is increased as
of jute fibres in epoxy matrix. The storage moduli of compared to the neat epoxy which has a very steep fall
70 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., MARCH 2017
E 'g
= r Composite
E'
E 'g
E 'r Epoxy
(1.30) for epoxy as expected. The value of tan delta 3 Gupta M K & Srivastava R K, Proced Mater Sci, 5 (2014)
peak and glass transition temperature of epoxy and 2434.
4 Ramnath B V, Kokan S J, Raja R N, Sathyanarayanan R,
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obtained from tan delta curve is higher than Tg from Mater Design, 51 (2013) 357.
loss modulus curve. 5 Gupta M K & Srivastava R K, Mater Today: Proceed,
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