Effect of Fibre Loading and Successive Alkali Treatments on Tensile Properties of Short Jute Fibre Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

A B S T R A C T The use of natural fibres like flax, hemp, jute, kenaf, etc. as replacement to man made fibres in fibre- reinforced composites have increased now a days due to advantages like low density, low cost and biodegradability. But the natural fibres have poor compatibility with the matrix and they have relatively high moisture sorption. Therefore different chemical treatments are done on the fibres to modify the surface. In this research, short jute fibre reinforced polypropylene composites have been developed by injection molding technique with varying parameters like fibre loading (0%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% &15% by weight) and fibre condition (untreated, NaOH treated followed by bleaching with H2O2) at constant fibre length of 3mm. Then these composite specimens are tested for tensile strength. The results showed that tensile strength increases with increase in the fibre loading and also with increase in %NaOH (5%, 10% & 15%) concentration in the treatment followed by bleaching with H2O2. However after 10% fibre loading with 10%NaOH concentration in the fibre treatment, the strength decreased again. There was small increase in the strength of composite with treated fibres compared to composite with untreated fibres. The modulus of the composite with treated fibres has increased considerably when compared to plain PP and untreated fibre reinforced PP composite