Effect of water absorption on dimensional stability and impact energy of jute fibre reinforced polypropylene

摘要

Low cost and high specific stiffness have made jute fibres a potential alternative to man-made fibres, like glass and aramid [1,2]. Recent studies have renewed the long-standing interest in jute as a reinforcing fibre for thermoplastic materials [3,4]. Being hydrophilic, jute fibre does not adhere well to hydrophobic matrix polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene. When a single jute fibre is embedded in the polypropylene matrix, the thermal shrinkage of polypropylene creates a gap surround-ing the fibre. The maximum width of such a gap was found to be 700 tun [5]. On the other hand, the average increase in diameter of jute fibres caused by swelling in water amounts to 3.6 fim [6], which leads to an increase of interfacial shear strength between fibre and matrix [7]. The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate whether such an increase in interfacial shear strength can also improve the mechanical properties of bulk compo-sites from jute fibre and polypropylene.