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Mechanical Properties of Natural Jute Fabric/Jute Mat Fiber Reinforced

Polymer Matrix Hybrid Composites

Article  in  Advances in Mechanical Engineering · January 2012

DOI: 10.1155/2012/354547

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Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Volume 2012, Article ID 354547, 12 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/354547

Research Article
Mechanical Properties of Natural Jute Fabric/Jute Mat
Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Hybrid Composites

Elsayed A. Elbadry, Mohamed S. Aly-Hassan, and Hiroyuki Hamada

Department of Advanced Fibro-Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology,
Matsugasaki, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan

Correspondence should be addressed to Elsayed A. Elbadry, d0851508@edu.kit.ac.jp

Received 9 July 2012; Revised 22 August 2012; Accepted 17 September 2012

Academic Editor: C. S. Shin

Copyright © 2012 Elsayed A. Elbadry et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

Recycled needle punched jute fiber mats as a first natural fiber reinforcement system and these jute mats used as a core needle
punched with recycled jute fabric cloths as skin layers as a second natural fiber reinforcement system were used for unsaturated
polyester matrix composites via modifying the hand lay-up technique with resin preimpregnation into the jute fiber in vacuum.
The effect of skin jute fabric on the tensile and bending properties of jute mat composites was investigated for different fiber weight
contents. Moreover, the notch sensitivity of these composites was also compared by using the characteristic distance do calculated
by Finite Element Method (FEM). The results showed that the tensile and flexural properties of jute mat composites increased by
increasing the fiber weight content and by adding the jute fabric as skin layers. On the other hand, by adding the skins, the charac-
teristic distance decreased and, therefore, the notch sensitivity of the composites increased. The fracture behavior investigated by
SEM showed that extensive fiber pull-out mechanism was revealed at the tension side of jute mat composites under the bending
load and by adding the jute cloth, the failure mode of jute mat was changed to fiber bridge mechanism.

1. Introduction
In recent years, there has been an environmental awareness
focused the attention to use the natural fibers as reinforce-
ments for the polymeric matrix due to the environmental
advantages. Ecological concern and global warming have
initiated a considerable interest in using natural materials to
produce green products and reduce anthropogenic carbon
dioxide emissions by all possible means and as written in
“Kyoto Protocol”, worldwide movement is turned to CO2
reduction [1]. Moreover, the strict environmental regula-
tions have faced the composite industry to find alternatively
ecofriendly reinforcements and resin systems to produce
environmentally friendly composite materials. The applica-
tion of natural composites is being targeted in various fields
due to the environmental and economical benefits which
could be used in automotive industry as interior parts and
in constructions sector such as walls and roofs. Plant fibers
are very attractive for composite materials due to the consid-
erable characteristics of these fibers, such as biodegradability,
abundance, renewability, low cost, low specific gravity, high
specific strength, and so forth. However certain drawbacks,
such as incompatibility with the hydrophobic polymer
matrices, the tendency to form aggregates during processing,
and poor resistance to moisture absorption, reduce sig-
nificantly the mechanical properties of the natural fibers
reinforced composite materials [2–4].
Among all the natural fibers, jute fiber appears to be a
promising fiber and constitutes large area of investigation
due to its good mechanical properties compared with other
natural fibers, such as sisal, coir, and ramie [2]. Several
authors have studied the continuous jute fiber composites
from different aspects, for example, mechanical properties
[5–10], the effect of fiber treatments on mechanical prop-
erties [7–10], dynamic mechanical properties [11], physical
properties [6], and processing and microstructures [12].

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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Jute mat Needling
Jute mat Needling
Jute mat Needling
(a)
Figure 1: Schematics of reinforcement systems (a) jute fiber mat and (b) jute fabric/jute mat.
Moreover, some authors have studied the mechanical proper-
ties, dynamic properties, and the effect of fiber treatments for
short jute fiber reinforced thermoplastics matrices composite
materials manufactured by injection molding technique [13–
15] and by continuous extrusion compounding [16].
Despite the fact that natural fibers possess relatively good
mechanical properties, their inherent variability, poor wet
ability, and adhesion with many polymer matrices lead to
composites whose mechanical properties are low if compared
to synthetic fiber composites. However these drawbacks can
be solved either by a proper combination of reinforcements,
that is, hybridization [17, 18], or by physical and chemical
treatments of the fibers as reported in the literature [9, 10].
Concern for the environment, both in terms of limiting
the use of finite resources and the need to manage waste
disposal, has led to increasing pressure to recycle materials
at the end of their useful life. As well known, the jute bags at
the end of their longevity will be as waste materials; moreover
the remaining short slivers of jute fibers yielded from the jute
cloth fabrication are not yet reused efficiently.
Therefore, in this research the used jute bags were
recycled by mincing them and mingled with short jute slivers
to produce jute mats. These jute mats were produced by
applying slightly compressive load on short jute fibers to be
packed together in the form of mat and then needle punched.
These jute mats can also be used as a core and the skin
is jute mat needle punched with recycled jute woven fabric
cloths as natural hybrid reinforcements which can be called
jute fabric/jute mat. This structure is sandwich structure
whose skins are jute mat needle punched with recycled jute
woven fabric cloths and jute mats were inserted in between
to increase the fiber weight content of this structure.
Hand lay-up technique is the oldest and common tech-
nique for fabrication of fibers reinforced polymer composite
materials. This is due to the good mechanical properties
specifically the fatigue properties that can be obtained by this
method [19–21]. However, according to the best knowledge
of this paper’ authors, no research was reported about the
fabrication of short jute fibers polymeric composites via the
hand lay-up method. The entrapped air bubbles are too
difficult to be removed from the jute mat during the conven-
tional hand lay-up technique, because the jute mat is usually
thick and incoherent.
In this research, a modified hand lay-up technique was
introduced to the composites with the same fabrication
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Jute cloth
Jute mat Needling
Jute mat Needling
Jute mat Needling
Jute cloth
(b)
procedure of the conventional hand lay-up technique being
used after primary resin impregnation into the jute fabrics in
vacuum conditions. The aim of the suggested simple modi-
fication is to improve the impregnation of resin throughout
the jute and the suggested method is called preimpregnation
hand lay-up technique. The effect of skin jute fabric on the
tensile and bending properties of jute mat composites was
investigated for different fiber weight contents. Moreover,
drilled holes in composite structure are necessary to facilitate
bolting or riveting to assemble the composite parts that con-
stitute a mechanical structure. Thence, the notch sensitivity
of these composites was also investigated by studying the
effect of different ratios of the specimen width, W, to the
notch diameter (D = 10.2 mm) with W/D = 1.7, 2.3, 3.0 on
the tensile strength of these composites with 32 wt% fiber
weight content.
2. Experimental Procedure
2.1. Materials. Two systems of reinforcements were prepared
by Yano Co. LTD, Japan. The first one is needle punched jute
fiber mats consisting of 50% jute slivers and 50% recycled
jute as shown in Figure 1(a) and one jute mat layer represents
the lowest fiber weight content which increases by adding
another jute mat layer and so on. The second type of rein-
forcement is a sandwich structure whose skins are jute
mat needle punched with recycled plain jute woven fabric
cloths (1/1) and jute mats being inserted in between to
increase the fiber weight content of this structure as shown
in Figure 1(b). Unsaturated polyester, Rigorac, was obtained
from Showa Denko K. K., Japan, and the curing agent is
Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (PERMEK N) obtained from
NOF Corporation, Japan.
2.2. Preparation of the Composite. Jute fabrics were dried for
6 h at 100◦ C and were completely submerged in unsaturated
polyester resin. The next step which differentiates the modi-
fied technique over the conventional technique is that the
jute fabrics were degassed in a vacuum for 20 minutes at
room temperature to remove the entrapped air bubbles. After
that, the jute fabrics were cured under a pressure of about
50 kg/cm2 at room temperature for 24 h with the presence of
a 6 mm spacer to produce the composite on the same thick-
ness for different fiber contents. The composite was then
Advances in Mechanical Engineering 3

40 80

30 60

Tensile stress (MPa)

Tensile stress (MPa)

20 40

10 20

0 0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0 0.003 0.006 0.009 0.012 0.015
Tensile strain Tensile strain

32 wt% 11 wt% 46 wt% 26 wt%

22 wt% Neat resin 36 wt% Neat resin
14 wt%
(a) (b)

Figure 2: Tensile stress-strain curves of the composites (a) JMC (b) JFJMC at different fiber weight contents.

postcured at 100◦ C for 2 h and finally it was allowed to cool where P is the load (N), L is the length of support span (mm),
naturally to room temperature for about 30 minutes. Jute b is the specimen width (mm), and d is the specimen thick-
fabric/jute mat composite panels were prepared with dif- ness (mm). The flexural modulus (E f ) was calculated using
ferent fiber weight contents (26, 36, and 46 wt%) and the
specimens of required dimensions were cut and used for L3 m
Ef = , (2)
testing. For comparison, the same procedure was applied to 4bd3
fabricate the jute mat composites without skin layers with 11, where m is the slope of the initial straight line portion of the
14, 22, and 32 wt%, and the details were mentioned in [22]. load-deflection curve.
Fiber weight content was determined simply by determining
the weight of the reinforcement after drying directly and the
weight of the composites after postcure process and dividing 2.3.3. FEM Analysis. For the notched specimens, the hole
the weight of reinforcement by the weight of the composites. diameter was D = 10.2 mm with different specimen widths
The abbreviations of the two composite systems are JMC with different W/D ratios (1.7, 2.3, and 3.0) and the drilling
for jute mat composites and JFJMC for jute fabric/jute mat was carried out on wooden plates to avoid delamination
composites. during the drilling. The characteristic distance was calculated
using the maximum load and the material constant, that
is, the modulus, by using 2D plane element (Marc) for the
2.3. Mechanical Characterization analysis of the stress distribution around the hole assuming
that the materials are isotropic with Poisson’s ratio being
2.3.1. Tensile Test. Tensile properties were determined equal to 0.3.
according to ASTM D 3093/D3039 M standard with sample Three testing specimens were prepared for each test for
dimensions of 250 × 25 × 6 mm using aluminum taps of different fiber weight contents and for the notched specimens
1 mm thickness to prevent gripping damage. The measure- and the fracture behavior of the composites for the different
ments were done using a universal Instron testing machine mechanical tests was studied using Scanning Electron Micro-
(Model 55 R 4206, Japan) at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. scope (SEM) (JEOL-5200).
at room temperature.
3. Results and Discussions
2.3.2. Flexural Test. Three-point bending test was also done
using the same machine according to ASTM D 790-03 at a 3.1. Tensile Properties of the Composites. Stress-strain curves
crosshead speed of 1 mm/min, with sample dimensions of for both types of the composites for different fiber weight
140 × 18 × 6 mm and the span to depth ratio was 16 : 1 and contents compared to the neat resin are shown in Figure 2.
three testing specimens were prepared for different fiber It can be observed that JMC without the skin layers exhibit
weight contents. linear response as shown in Figure 2(a), while the composites
The flexural strength (σ f ) was calculated using with the skin layers exhibit linear at low strain and a change
in slope is observed at high load as shown in Figure 2(b).
3PL During the initial loading, the jute fiber cloth as skin layers
σf = , (1) shares the load and so the stress-strain curves are linear at
2bd2

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4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Table 1: Summary of mechanical properties of jute fiber mat reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix composites.

Fiber weight content Tensile strength ± SD∗ Tensile modulus ± SD Flexural strength ± SD Flexural modulus ± SD
(Wt%) (MPa) (GPa) (MPa) (GPa)
Neat resin 24.0 ± 0.96 2.8 ± 0.27 65.1 ± 2.62 3.0 ± 0.06
11 20.1 ± 2.58 2.3 ± 0.05 42.9 ± 1.88 3.9 ± 0.06
14 23.2 ± 1.91 4.7 ± 0.19 51.4 ± 2.71 4.4 ± 0.12
22 27.9 ± 4.37 4.8 ± 1.36 53.6 ± 1.61 4.6 ± 0.30
32 35.4 ± 2.52 5.8 ± 0.11 68.5 ± 4.66 5.3 ± 0.09
∗ Standard deviation.

80 10

8
Tensile strength (MPa)

Tensile modulus (GPa)

60

6
40
4

20
2

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Fiber weight content (wt%) Fiber weight content (wt%)
JMC JMC
JFJMC JFJMC
(a) (b)

Figure 3: Effect of fiber weight content on (a) the tensile strength and (b) young’s modulus of the different composites.

low strain and when the strain of the composites reaches the
jute fiber mat failure strain, a change in slope takes place as
shown in Figure 2(b) compared to Figure 2(a). Moreover,
it can also be observed that as the fiber weight content
increases, the tensile strength and young’s modulus of the
JMC increases and the improvement starts at 14 wt% com-
pared to those of the neat resin as shown Table 1. The effect
of fiber weight content on the tensile strength and young’s
modulus of JMC and JFJMC is indicated in Figures 3(a) and
3(b), respectively. It can be observed that the same trend for
the relation between the fiber weight content and both the
tensile strength and young’s modulus of JMC as shown in
Figures 3(a), and 3(b). A little drop of the tensile strength
and young’s modulus of JMC was observed due to the
addition of 11 wt% jute fiber weight content and then they
increase continuously for further addition of jute fiber. The
tensile strength was decreased by 16% at 11 wt% fiber weight
content, while the young’s modulus was decreased by 15%
compared to that of the neat resin. This is due to the poor
dispersion of the jute fiber so that the stress transfer between
the fiber and the matrix will not work properly; that is, when
the volume fraction of the reinforcing fiber is lower than the
critical quantity, the composite strength cannot be improved
by addition of short fibers [23]. Such a drop in the tensile
strength and modulus has been observed by other researchers
[24], where the tensile strength and modulus of banana fiber
reinforced polyester composites were decreased up to 10 wt%
fiber weight content compared to those of neat resin. By
increasing the fiber weight content to 22 wt%, the tensile
strength and young’s modulus were improved by 16% and
71% compared to those of the neat resin, respectively.
Increasing the fiber weight content to 32 wt%, an addi-
tional upgrading of tensile strength and young’s modulus
had occurred by 48% and 106%, respectively, with respect
to those of the neat resin. Specifically, the tensile strength
increases to 35.4 MPa at 32 wt%, as shown in Table 1, which
is the same value reported by [25], where the tensile strength
of raw short jute reinforced polypropylene fabricated by
injection molding was between 33 and 36 MPa at 30–60 wt%
fiber weight content. In addition, it is higher than [26], where
the tensile strength of raw jute fiber reinforced polypropylene
matrix composites fabricated by film stacking method is
28.4 MPa at 37 wt% fiber weight content. Moreover, increas-
ing the fiber weight content to 32 wt%, the young’s modulus
increases to 5.8 GPa which is higher than that documented by
[25] where the young’s modulus of raw short jute reinforced
polypropylene matrix composites fabricated by injection
molding was around 4.7 GPa at 30 wt% fiber weight content.
By adding the jute cloth as skin layers to the jute mat
for different fiber weight contents, the fiber weight content
increases and, therefore, the tensile strength and the young’s
modulus were improved compared to those of neat resin and

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Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Table 2: Summary of mechanical properties of hybrid jute fabric/mat reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix composites.
Fiber weight content Tensile strength ± SD∗ Tensile modulus ± SD
(Wt%) (MPa) (GPa)
Neat resin 24.0 ± 0.96 2.8 ± 0.27
26 34.9 ± 1.63 5.5 ± 0.10
36 48.4 ± 4.87 6.2 ± 0.22
46 59.2 ± 2.79 7.5 ± 0.37
∗ Standard deviation.
Jute mat
(a)
Figure 4: SEM micrographs of selected tensile fracture surface of the composites (a) JMC (32 wt%) and (b) JFJMC (36 wt%).
the jute mat composites as shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(b). It
can also be seen that the same trend for the relation between
the fiber weight content and both the tensile strength and
young’s modulus of JFJMC as shown in Figures 3(a) and
3(b), respectively.
Many researchers studied the mechanical properties of
hybrid composites; Park and Jang [27] found that the stack-
ing pattern of the different components in hybrid laminated
composite plays an important role in influencing the mecha-
nical properties (flexural strength and modulus) of the
hybrid composites. Idicula et al. [28, 29], Aabdul Khalil et al.
[30] reported that layering pattern of the fibers in hybrid
composite affects the tensile strength and modulus of these
composites. Various researchers carried out in depth inves-
tigation about the synthetic fiber/natural fiber based hybrid
composite but natural fiber/natural fiber based hybrid com-
posites are recent research phenomena due to the ecological
concerns. Study of tensile properties of sisal/silk by [31]
and sisal/banana hybrid composites by [28, 29] reported that
natural fiber hybridization improved the mechanical prop-
erties of natural hybrid composites compared to individual
fiber composites.
The results of the tensile properties (tensile strength
and modulus) of hybrid JFJMC are shown in Table 2. By
comparing Tables 1 and 2, it can be observed that when the
jute plain woven cloth fibers were placed at the skin of JMC,
the fiber weight content increases and therefore the tensile
strength and modulus were improved compared to those of
the neat resin and JMC without the skin layers as shown in
Figures 3(a) and 3(b), respectively. The tensile strength and
modulus of the composites will be higher when the higher
strength material is used as the skin [32] and the skin is plain
woven jute cloth which is the main load bearing component
in the tensile measurements having higher strength than
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5
Flexural strength ± SD Flexural modulus ± SD
(MPa) (GPa)
65.1 ± 2.62 3.0 ± 0.06
73.6 ± 2.17 6.1 ± 0.33
77.6 ± 3.59 6.2 ± 0.12
80.1 ± 0.16 6.8 ± 0.20
Jute mat
Jute cloth
(b)
short random jute fiber. Jawaid et al. [32] carried out the
similar study on jute and oil palm fiber hybrid composites
and reported that the tensile strength will be higher when the
jute fiber was used as the skin layer. Moreover, Idicula et al.
[28, 29] concluded that sisal/banana/sisal show slightly lower
tensile strength compared to banana/sisal/banana hybrid
composites because low strength sisal fiber was used as a skin
layer.
The ability of the interfaces to transfer stresses from the
matrix to the fiber plays an important role in determining the
mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composites [18].
Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show selected scanning electron micro-
graph of the tensile fracture surface for JMC with 32 wt%
of jute fiber and hybrid JFJMC at 36 wt% of jute fiber,
respectively, as an example to explain the tensile fracture
behavior. It can be observed that more extensive fiber pullout
in the jute cloth skin layers compared to the jute mat core
which exhibits plastic deformation to the hybrid JFJMC com-
pared to JMC as was also revealed from stress-strain curves of
both types of composites as shown in Figure 2(b) compared
to Figure 2(a). Additionally, fiber-matrix debonding, matrix
crack, and fiber pullout are more evident in JMC compared
to hybrid JFJMC as indicated in Figure 4(a) compared
to Figure 4(b). Moreover, extensive fiber pullout can be
observed in JMC compared to the jute mat in JFJMC. The
high tensile strength of plain woven jute fibers at the outer
skin layer is able to withstand the tensile stress while the jute
mat core absorbs the stresses and distributes them evenly in
the composites and this explained why hybrid JFJMC showed
higher tensile strength and modulus compared to those of the
JMC.
3.2. Flexural Properties of the Composites. Stress-displace-
ment curves for both types of the composites for different
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

80 100

80

Flexural stress (MPa)

60
Flexural stress (MPa)

60
40
40

20
20

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8
Displacement (mm) Displacement (mm)

32 wt% 11 wt% 46 wt% 26 wt%

22 wt% Neat resin 36 wt% Neat resin
14 wt%
(a) (b)

Figure 5: Flexural stress-displacement curves of for the composites (a) JMC and (b) JFJMC at different fiber weight contents.

100 10
Flexural strength (MPa)

80 8
Flexural modulus (GPa)

60 6

40
4

20
2

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0
Fiber weight content (wt%) 0 10 20 30 40 50
Fiber weight content (wt%)
JMC
JFJMC JMC
JFJMC
(a) (b)

Figure 6: Effect of fiber weight content on (a) the flexural strength and (b) flexural modulus of the different composites.

fiber weight contents compared to the neat resin are shown to that of the neat resin. By increasing the fiber content to
in Figure 5. It can be observed that as the fiber weight 22 wt%, the improvement of the flexural modulus is 54%,
content increases, the flexural strength and flexural modulus while the flexural strength was decreased 17% regarding to
increase and the hybrid JFJMC exhibits a nonlinear response that of neat resin as shown in Table 1. This behavior was
compared to the linear response of JMC for different fiber also observed in [33, 34], where the flexural strength of
weight contents due to the effect of the plain woven jute straw-polyester composites and coir-polyester composites,
cloths as skin layers as shown in Figure 5(b) compared to respectively, was decreased up to a volume fraction of 0.21
Figure 5(a). The effect of fiber weight content on the flexural compared to that of neat resin.
strength and modulus of JMC and JFJMC is displayed in The flexural strength and modulus of JMC were
Figures 6(a) and 6(b), respectively. It can be observed that as improved by 5% and 76%, respectively, by increasing the
the fiber content increases, the flexural strength and modulus fiber weight content to 32 wt% with respect to the similar
of JMC increase. The flexural strength was decreased by 34% values of neat resin as was also revealed from Table 1.
and 21% at the lower fiber contents 11 and 14 wt% compared Specifically, the flexural strength increases to 68.5 MPa at
to the value of neat resin, whereas the enhancement for 32 wt% as shown in Table 1, which is higher than the value
the flexural modulus had occurred at the same fiber weight reported by [25] where the flexural strength of raw short
contents, which was enhanced by 29% and 44% compared jute reinforced polypropylene matrix composites fabricated

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Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Direction of crack
propagation
Tension side
Tension side
(a)
Figure 7: SEM micrographs of selected fracture surface under bending load at the tension side for (a) JMC (22 wt%) and (b) JFJMC
(36 wt%).
by injection molding was between 56 to 61 MPa at 30–
60 wt% fiber weight contents. In addition, it is also higher
than [26], where the flexural strength of raw jute fiber
reinforced polypropylene matrix composites fabricated by
film stacking method is 35.1 MPa at 37 wt% fiber weight
content. Moreover, increasing the fiber weight content to
32 wt%, the flexural modulus increases to 5.3 GPa which is
higher than that documented by [25], where the flexural
modulus of raw short jute reinforced polypropylene matrix
composites fabricated by injection molding was around
4.6 GPa at 30 wt% fiber weight content.
By adding the jute cloth as skin layers to the jute mat
for different fiber weight contents, the fiber weight content
increases and, therefore, the flexural strength and modulus
were improved compared to those of neat resin and JMC
as shown in Figures 6(a) and 6(b), respectively. The results
of the flexural strength and modulus of hybrid JFJMC are
shown in Table 2. By comparing Tables 1 and 2, it can be
observed that by the addition of jute cloth at the skin of JMC,
the fiber weight content increases and therefore the flexural
strength and modulus were improved compared to those of
the neat resin and JMC without the skin layers. The flexural
strength of JFJMC was improved by 13% at 26 wt% com-
pared to the value of neat resin, whereas the improvement
for the flexural modulus is 102% compared to that of the
neat resin. By increasing the fiber weight content to 36 wt%,
the improvement of the flexural strength is 19%, while the
flexural modulus was improved by 105% regarding to that of
neat resin. The flexural strength and modulus were improved
by 23% and 124%, respectively, by increasing the fiber weight
content to 46 wt% with respect to the value of neat resin.
During flexural fracture behavior, the crack always
initiates on the tension side of the specimen and slowly prop-
agates in an upward direction through the thickness towards
the compression side until the failure of the composites
occurs and so the bending properties depend on the strength
of the tension surface which is the main load bearing compo-
nent. Figures 7(a) and 7(b) show selected scanning electron
micrograph of the flexural fracture surface through the
thickness at the tension side for JMC with 22 wt% jute fiber
and hybrid JFJMC with 36 wt% of jute fiber, respectively, as
an example to explain the flexural fracture behavior. It can be
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7
ck
on cra
ati f
ag n o
op io
pr rect
Di
Jute cloth
(b)
observed that the direction of the propagation of the crack
is changed with an inclination to the surface by adding the
jute cloth as skin layers which exhibits plastic deformation
to the hybrid JFJMC compared to JMC as was also revealed
from comparing the stress-displacement curves of JFJMC
with those of JMC as shown in Figure 5(b) compared to
Figure 5(a).
It can also be observed that extensive fiber pullout is the
failure mode at the tension side of flexural fracture surface
of JMC and no evidence or traces of matrix resin adhering
to the fiber is an indication of poor fiber-matrix adhesion as
shown in Figure 7(a). Moreover, the fracture surface of JMC
was fully fractured at the tension side which indicates that
the tension surface of JMC is very weak under the bending
loading and therefore the bending strength of JMC is lower
than that of neat resin up to 22 wt% jute fiber weight content.
On the other hand, the fracture surface of JFJMC at the
tension side was not fully fractured at the skin layers due to
the high strength of the jute cloth as cloth skin layers with
no delamination occurred between the skin layers and the
jute mat as a core as shown in Figure 7(b) and this explains
that the crack initiates at the jute mat core and spreads out
through the jute cloth skin layers.
Figures 8(a) and 8(b) show selected scanning electron
micrograph of the flexural fracture surface through the thick-
ness near the compression side in jute mat region for JMC
and JFJMC, respectively. It can be seen that fiber microbuck-
ling mechanism is the failure mode occurred of the JMC,
while by adding the jute cloth, the failure mode of jute mat
was changed to fiber bridge mechanism with a lower degree
of jute fiber buckling compared to JMC. This fiber bridge
mechanism exhibits plastic deformation to the hybrid JFJMC
compared to JMC as was also revealed from the nonlinear
response of stress displacement of the hybrid JFJMC com-
pared to the linear response of stress-displacement curves
of JMC as shown in Figure 5(b) compared to Figure 5(a),
respectively. These previous explanations explained that
hybrid JFJMC showed higher flexural strength and modulus
compared to those of JMC. Microbuckling mechanismbe-
havior depends on number of variables such as fiber undu-
lation and fiber-matrix bonding which is not in the purview
of this paper. In order to get more insight to fracture behavior
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Microbuckling
(a)
Figure 8: SEM micrographs of selected fracture surface under bending load near the compression side for (a) JMC (22 wt%) and (b) JFJMC
(36 wt%).
mechanism, more extensive research experimentally and
mathematically is needed as a future work to fully under-
stand the microbuckling behavior of jute mat composites
with and without skin layers near the compression side under
bending load.
3.3. Notch Sensitivity of the Composites. The tensile strength
of notched composites σn can be determined from the fol-
lowing equation:
Pmax
σn = , (3)
(W − D) ∗ t
where Pmax is the maximum load (N), W is the specimen
width (mm), D is the notch diameter, and t is the specimen
thickness (mm) as shown in Figure 9(a).
The characteristic distance was calculated using the
maximum load and the material constant, that is, the
modulus, by using 2D plane element (Marc) for the analysis
of the stress distribution around the hole assuming that the
materials are isotropic with Poisson’s ratio being equal to 0.3.
The meshing process was modeled with boundary condition
with displacement equaling zero in x direction and 1 mm in
y direction which is the direction of loading as shown in
Figure 9(a). The element type is mechanical as plain strain
solid and entirely elastic. The reinforcement in JMC is ran-
dom short fibers so JMC composites are assumed as isotropic
material and JFGFJMC composites were modeled as jute mat
as a core needled punched with jute cloth as skin layers
together as isotropic material due to the effect of needling.
The characteristic distance do according the the point
stress criterion is the distance where the failure occurs when
the stress σ y over some distance do away from the discontinu-
ity is equal to or greater than the strength of the unnotched
material σo [35] as shown in Figure 9(b)
σn = σo , d = do .
The characteristic distance can be used as a measure of
the notch sensitivity; the higher do indicates the lower notch
sensitivity. Figures 10(a) and 10(b) shows the calculated
stress distribution for a hole of JMC and JFJMC for different
W/D ratios, respectively. It can be observed that as W/D
ratio increases, the stress concentration is less localized to
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Fiber bridging
(b)
the hole for JMC and JFJMC composites and therefore the
characteristic distance increases and the sensitivity of the
composites decreases by increasing W/D ratio. Moreover, the
stress concentration is more localized for JFJMC compared
to JMC for different W/D ratios and, therefore, the charac-
teristic distance do for JFJMC is lower than the characteristic
distance of JMC and therefore the sensitivity of JMC to the
notch increases by adding the jute cloth as skin layers for
different W/D ratio.
The effect of the ratio (W/D) on the average characteristic
distance do for different composites is shown in Figure 11(a).
It can be observed that as W/D ratio increases, the character-
istic distance increase and so the sensitivity of the composites
decreases for both JMC and JFJMC composites. Moreover
the characteristic distance do for JFJMC is lower than the
characteristic distance of JMC and therefore the sensitivity of
JMC to the notch increases by adding the jute cloth as skin
layers. The relation of the residual tensile strength (σn /σo
ratio) and the calculated characteristic distance do of JMC
and JFJMC composites are shown in Figure 11(b). By com-
paring the residual tensile strength of JMC and JFJMC com-
posites, it can be observed that the residual tensile strength
of JMC was higher than those of JFJMC for different W/D
ratios.
The problem of the stress distribution around a circular
hole in a composite plate and the associated failure criteria
have been the subject of extensive research. Eriksson and
Aronsson [36] developed a closed form solution called the
Damage Zone Criterion, based on the assumption that a
homogeneous damage zone grows from a hole, perpendic-
ular to the direction of loading. The projected damage zone
length is determined empirically, and the model was seen
to be slightly better at predicting notched strength than the
point stress criterion in the cases reported. The projected
damage zone length was also close in value to the character-
(4) istic distance of the point stress criterion. Subsequent work
in the field, some of the earliest of which was reported by
Kortschot and Beaumont [37], focused on understanding the
subcritical damage that was occurring, and how it affected
the notched strength of composites. The damage was found
to take the form of matrix cracking in the off-axis plies,
delamination, and axial-splitting in the 0◦ plies. It is this
damage occurring at the notch, especially the 0◦ splits, which
Advances in Mechanical Engineering 9

σy

(X − R) σ y = σo
D
R
(X − R)

F
do
W
(a) (b)

Figure 9: (a) Dimension of the notched specimen. (b) A schematic of stress distribution for a circular hole.

100 100
σy σy

80 Normal stress (σ y ) (MPa) 80

Normal stress (σ y ) (MPa)

σ y = σo σ y = σo
R R
(X − R) (X − R)

60 do 60 do
σ y = σo

40 σ y = σo 40

20 20

0 0
0 5 10 15 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Distance ahead of the hole (mm) Distance ahead of the hole (mm)
W/D = 1.7 W/D = 1.7
W/D = 2.3 W/D = 2.3
W/D = 3 W/D = 3

(a) (b)

Figure 10: Stress distribution at failure around the hole for (a) JMC and (b) JFJMC for different W/D ratios.

redistributes the stress concentration and thus delays the mentioned and concluded from the above the first part of
onset of failure. the discussion the tensile strength of the composites depends
Feraboli et al. [38, 39] investigated the notched failure on the strength of skin layers which withstand most of the
response of oriented strand board (OSB) in the form of wood tensile stresses. Therefore, as the skin layers withstand most
composite and carbon fiber/epoxy composites, in particular of the tensile stresses, more localized concentrated residual
the tensile strength of specimens containing circular holes stresses result around the hole or the notch in the hybrid
of a various dimensions, and the influence of specimen size JFJMC due to the discontinuity of the plain woven jute
and scaling on the measured strength and the characteristic skin layers compared to those of JMC as was also revealed
distance. They concluded that OSB and carbon fiber/epoxy from comparing Figure 10(b) with Figure 10(a). This was
composites are notch insensitive due to the internal stress validated from Figures 12(a) and 12(b) which indicate the
concentration arising from the heterogeneous nature of the stress distribution around the hole calculated by FEM for
substructure. JMC and JFJMC, respectively, at W/D ratio equaling 3.0 as an
Shembekar and Naik [40] reported that the stacking example. It can be seen that the stress concentration increases
sequence has a significant effect on the notched and by adding jute cloths as skin layers to JMC and this explained
unnotched tensile strength of woven fabric composite lam- why hybrid JFJMC showed lower residual tensile strengths
inates and the fabric structure governs the failure modes (σn /σo ) compared to those of JMC at different W/D ratios.
of woven fabric composites. It is interesting to note that The average calculated characteristic distances of JMC are
by adding the woven jute cloth as skin layers to JMC, the 1.5, 2.0, and 2.8 mm for W/D ratios equal to 1.7, 2.3, and 3.0,
sensitivity of the composites to the notch increases and as was respectively, as indicated in Figure 11(a). These values are

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10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

3 1

2.5
0.8

2
0.6
do (mm)

σn /σo
1.5
0.4
1

0.5 0.2

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
W/D do (mm)
JMC JFJMC (W/D = 1.7)
JMC (W/D = 1.7)
JFJMC JMC (W/D = 2.3) JFJMC (W/D = 2.3)
JMC (W/D = 3) JFJMC (W/D = 3)

(a) (b)

Figure 11: The effect of W/D ratio on (a) the average characteristic distance do and (b) the relation of the ratio of notched to unnotched
tensile strength (σn /σo ) and the characteristic distance do of JMC and JFJMC composites.

(a) (b)

Figure 12: The stress distribution around the hole for (a) JMC and (b) JFJMC at W/D = 3.0.

higher compared to the characteristic distance of glass mat
reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix composites reported
by Zhang et al. [41], which indicates that the sensitivity of
jute mat composites to the notch is lower compared to the
glass mat composites. By adding the jute cloth as skin layers
to JMC, the characteristic distance do decreased to 0.5, 1.26,
and 1.34 for W/D ratios equaling 1.7, 2.3, and 3.0, respec-
tively, as shown in Figure 11(a). As a result of that, the
sensitivity of JMC is lower compared to JFJMC by comparing
the characteristic distance values and the residual tensile
strength values and this validates that adding the jute cloth as
skin layers to the jute mat composites enhances the sensitivity
of the composites to the notch.
4. Conclusions
The effect of fiber weight contents and skin jute fabrics on
the tensile and bending properties of JMC was investigated
for different fiber weight contents and the notch sensitivity
of these composites was also investigated. The tensile and
flexural properties were increased by increasing the fiber
weight content, and adding the jute fabric as skins has
improved the tensile and bending properties with respect to
those of JMC. On the other hand, by adding the skins to JMC,
the characteristic distance decreased and, therefore, the
residual tensile strength (σn /σo ) of JMC is higher than that
of hybrid JFJMC and as a result of that, the notch sensitivity
of the composites increased by adding the jute fabric as skin
layers. The fracture behavior investigated by SEM showed
that extensive fiber pull-out mechanism was revealed at the
tension side of jute mat composites under the bending load
and by adding the jute cloth, the failure mode of jute mat was
changed to fiber bridge mechanism.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the help provided
by YANO Co. Ltd., Japan, for preparing and supplying the
needed jute fabrics. Moreover, the authors thank Showa
Denko K. K., Japan, for providing unsaturated polyester,
Rigorac, and NOF Corporation, Japan, for providing the
curing agent Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (PERMEK N).

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Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Special thanks to the government of Arab Republic of Egypt
and Assiut University for supplying a scholarship for the first
author to get the Doctor degree. The authors declare that
there is no existence of any possible conflict of interests.
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