Improving the mechanical properties of jute fiber woven mat reinforced epoxy composites with addition of zinc oxide filler

Abstract

The present work is to prepare the jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites by changing the number of layers of jute fiber mat and adding the various content of zinc oxide filler. The composites were prepared by compression molding techniques and investigates the tensile, flexural and impact properties according to ASTM standard. The results reveal that increasing the number of jute fiber mat layer was increased the mechanical properties. The maximum strength was obtained in double-layer composites. By incorporation of zinc oxide filler, the filler content gradually increased the mechanical strengths which increased the bonding effect between fiber and matrix. The maximum mechanical strengths were obtained for composites containing the 25% of zinc oxide filler. More than the 25% of zinc oxide filler was decreased the mechanical properties due to lower the resin content and bonding between fiber and matrix.

Keywords

• jute fiber composites
• zinc oxide filler
• mechanical properties
• compression molding technique