Materials Science and Engineering C 56 (2015) 269–273

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Science and Engineering C

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msec

Analysis of the mechanical and thermal properties of jute and glass fiber
as reinforcement epoxy hybrid composites
R.A. Braga a,⁎, P.A.A. Magalhaes Jr. b

a
FIAT Automóveis S.A., Teardown, CEP 32530-000 Betim, MG, Brazil
b
PUC—MINAS, Instituto Politécnico, CEP 30535-610 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work describes the study to investigate and compare the mechanical and thermal properties of raw jute and
Received 26 January 2015 glass fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composites. To improve the mechanical properties, jute fiber was hybridized
Received in revised form 17 May 2015 with glass fiber. Epoxy resin, jute and glass fibers were laminated in three weight ratios (69/31/0, 68/25/7 and
Accepted 14 June 2015
64/18/19) respectively to form composites. The tensile, flexural, impact, density, thermal and water absorption
Available online 16 June 2015
tests were carried out using hybrid composite samples. This study shows that the addition of jute fiber and
Keywords:
glass fiber in epoxy, increases the density, the impact energy, the tensile strength and the flexural strength, but
Jute decreases the loss mass in function of temperature and the water absorption. Morphological analysis was carried
Resin out to observe fracture behavior and fiber pull-out of the samples using scanning electron microscope.
Mechanical properties © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Mechanical testing

1. Introduction
The 60s was the decade of the beginning of the international commu-
nity concerns with the limits of development of the planet, when the dis-
cussions about the risks of environmental degradation appeared. Due to
the increase of these discussions, the UN (United Nation) has promoted
a Conference on Environment, realized in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972
[1]. Since then there is a growing interest in the use of lignocellulosic ma-
terials (sisal fibers, coconut, banana and jute) as reinforcement in thermo-
set or thermoplastic matrices composites [2]. The interest of using natural
fibers as a reinforcing agent is related to its low cost and lower density. In
addition they are renewable, non-abrasive and biodegradable [3].
The composites are materials composed of two or more chemically
distinct constituents, having a distinct interface separating them. One
or more discontinuous phases therefore, are embedded in a continuous
phase to form a composite [4]. The discontinuous phase is usually
harder and stronger than the continuous phase and is called the rein-
forcement, where the continuous phase is termed the matrix [5]. Jute
is a hydrophobic material and moisture absorption alters the dimen-
sional and mechanical characteristics of jute fibers laminate [6,7].
The matrix material can be metallic, polymeric or ceramic. When the
matrix is a polymer, the composite is called polymer matrix composite
(PMC). The reinforcing phase can either be fibrous or non-fibrous (par-
ticulates) in nature and if the fibers are derived from plants or some
other living species, they are called natural-fibers. The fiber reinforced
polymers (FRPs) consist of fibers of high strength and modulus embed-
ded in or bonded to a matrix with a distinct interface between them. In
this form, both fibers and matrix retain their physical and chemical
identities. In general, fibers are the principal load carrying members,
while the matrix keeps them at the desired location and orientation,
acts as a load transfer medium between them, and protects them from
environmental damage [8–11].
Laminate composites are formed by stacking several thin layers of fi-
bers impregnated with resin, also known as blades. Consist of laminated
layers of at least two different materials connected by means of a matrix.
Laminates offer the opportunity to have their properties modified by
stacking of layers with fibers oriented in different directions. The reason
to use the lamination process is the combination of best features of the
constituent layers in order to obtain a material with certain features not
found in a single material. Some properties that may be cited as im-
proved by lamination are strength, stiffness, weight reduction, corrosion
resistance and esthetics, and thermal and acoustic insulation, for in-
stance the laminated glass of automobiles [12].
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
To form the laminated composites used in this study, was used these
following materials described below, and the composites with layers
kind and the percentage of mass is at Table 1:

⁎ Corresponding author.
• Epoxy resin: The epoxy resin and hardener resin, also known as curing
E-mail addresses: roney.braga@fiat.com.br (R.A. Braga), pamerico@pucminas.br schedule used in the experiment, have been identified as: RenLam M
(P.A.A. Magalhaes). (Araldite M).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2015.06.031
0928-4931/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
270 R.A. Braga, P.A.A. Magalhaes Jr. / Materials Science and Engineering C 56 (2015) 269–273

1,40
Table 1
Percentage by mass of samples.
1,20
Composites Symbol Percentage by mass of samples
1,00
Epoxy resin Jute fiber Glass fiber

Density ( g/cm3)
(% in mass) (% in mass) (% in mass)
0,80
Epoxy resin E69-J31-V0 69 31 0
3 layers of jute fabric
0,60
Epoxy resin E68-J25-V7 68 25 7
1,03 1,14
1 jute fiber fabric layer
0,40
0,95
1 glass fiber fabric layer
1 jute fiber fabric layer
Epoxy resin E64-J18-V19 64 18 19 0,20

1 glass fiber fabric layer

1 jute fiber fabric layer 0,00
1 glass fiber fabric layer E69-J31-V0 E68-J25-V7 E64-J18-V19

Composite

Fig. 1. Density graph of composite materials.

• Jute fiber: The jute fibers used in fabric form were: Grammage —
361,1 g/m2.
• Glass fiber: The glass fibers used in fabric form were: Grammage —
194,4 g/m2.
2.2. Composite fabrication
Fabric jute fibers and glass fibers were reinforced in epoxy resin to
prepare the composites. The jute fibers and the epoxy resin have a mod-
ulus of about 55 and 3.42 GPa respectively and have density of 1.38 and
1.65 g/cm3 respectively. The process of manual mixture proportions
that has been used for resin and hardner was 10 (ten) parts resin to 1
(a) curing agent, or hardener. It took 20 to 30 min to work with a mix-
ture until the mixture began its process of polymerization. Some steps
were necessary in order to obtain a perfect lamination of the plate and
also ensure a better finish in the play and avoid places where the resin
does not fully impregnate: Step 1 — Implementation of the first
layer of resin with a brush over the mold previously prepared;
Step 2 — Positioning the first jute fiber blanket on the resin; Step 3 — Ap-
plication of resin on jute fiber blanket, using a brush; Step 4 — Elimina-
tion of air bubbles using the roller across the surface of the mold. Repeat
the steps 2, 3 and 4 to position the second and third fiber jute fabric
layer or glass fiber fabric layer.
After those steps the cast stayed for 5 (five) days of total rest for the
polymerization and curing step, in the open air and at room tempera-
ture at about 25 °C. This time was in accordance with the specifications
of the supplier. Specimens of suitable dimension were cut using a dia-
mond cutter for physical characterization, thermal and mechanical test-
ing. Utmost care was taken to maintain uniformity and homogeneity of
the composite.
2.4. Scanning electronic microscope (SEM)
The morphology of the samples was studied from tensile tests, to
verify the fiber–matrix adhesion in the fracture region. The equipment
used was a scanning electron microscope (SEM) Philips XL30 model
New 139-2.5, with 9 increases to 20,000 times. The fractured portions
of the samples were cut and gold coated uniformly over the surface
for examination. The accelerating voltage used in this work was 10 kV.
Only one sample was tested .
2.5. Thermal studies
Thermogravimetric analysis allows one to track the weight loss that
occurs in a sample due to temperature rise or analysis time. Variations
in mass occur due to chemical or physical changes such as loss of mate-
rial by evaporation, decomposition or vaporization. The TGA analyses
were performed on a TA Instruments, model Discovery TGA under N2.
Analyses were carried out in the temperature that range from 35 °C to
1000 °C at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The amount of sample used
was approximately 10.0 mg. Were tested 3 samples to thermogravimet-
ric analysis and was used an average to show the results.
2.6. Water absorption test
For the water absorption test, ASTM D 570 [16], the specimens were
weighed in the dry state and were then completely immersed in water
and after 1 h, the samples were gently dried with a paper towel,
and weighed again immersed in water for a subsequent test period.
After this, they were removed from the water and weighed again. The
test stopped at the time that the samples reached a state of equilibrium,

2.3. Mechanical studies 7,00

After fabrication, the test specimens were subjected to various me- 6,00

chanical tests as per ASTM standards. The density test was performed
5,00
at 23 °C temperatures in the specimens and a relative humidity of
Impact Energy ( J)

50%. The tensile test was performed at 23 °C temperatures in the speci- 4,00
mens and a relative humidity of 50%, according to ASTM D638 [13], at a
speed of 50.0 mm/min and the load cell used was 30.0 kN in a Universal 3,00
Instron 4467 machine. The bending test was performed at 23 °C ambi- 5,49
ent temperature in the specimens and a relative humidity of 50%, ac- 2,00
3,44 3,53
cording to ASTM D790 [14], at a speed of 2.0 mm/min and the load
1,00
cell used was 30.0 kN in a Universal Instron 4467 machine. The impact
test for the sample dart drop was performed as ASTM D256 [15], in a 0,00
CEAST equipment model 6545 to 23 °C ambient temperature and rela- E69-J31-V0 E68-J25-V7 E64-J18-V19
tive humidity of 50%. Were tested 8 samples to density test, 10 samples Composite
to tensile test, 10 samples to bending test and 7 samples to impact test.
Was used an average to show the results of each test. Fig. 2. Impact energy graph of composite materials.
 R.A. Braga, P.A.A. Magalhaes Jr. / Materials Science and Engineering C 56 (2015) 269–273 271

Table 2
Mechanical properties of composite materials.

Test Density (g/cm3) Tensile strength (Mpa) Flexural strength (Mpa) Flexural modulus (Mpa) Impact (J)

Composite Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum

E69-J31-V0 0.95 1.03 0.87 29.52 33.41 25.61 28.18 32.60 19.06 1249.92 1425.01 904.73 3.44 3.91 2.92
E69-J31-V0 1.03 1.09 0.98 49.80 54.85 42.60 28.74 31.48 23.16 1189.18 1324.37 939.83 3.53 3.98 3.19
E64-J18-V19 1.14 1.26 1.07 56.68 85.62 44.66 28.81 59.81 13.09 1830.68 3589.39 562.99 5.49 6.05 5.02

that was, until not absorb more water and do not increase the mass strength and flexural modulus are 56.68, 28.81 and 1830.68 MPa, re-
more. The test was conducted for a period up to 1172 h. The absorbed spectively. The mechanical properties of all composite specimens are
water content (% TA) of the samples was calculated from the ratio of tabulated in Table 2.
the mass of the dry sample (Ms) and the sample weight after immersed
(Mi) for different times of the experiment. Were tested 4 samples to
3.2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
water absorption test and was used an average to show the results.
  Figs. 3–5 display the micrograph of fractured specimens of tensile
Mi −Ms
TAð%Þ ¼  100: test of raw jute and glass fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composites.
Ms
Fiber pull-out phenomena were observed for the hybrid composite.
The SEM images clearly indicate that there was more breakage of fibers
3. Results and discussion
and few voids present due to fiber pull-out. This shows that there was a
fiber–matrix interaction between the fibers and the polymer matrix.
3.1. Mechanical studies
This results for better mechanical bonding between the fiber and poly-
mer matrix.
With the decrease in the percentage of jute fiber and increasing the
percentage of glass fiber, the density of the composite materials (Fig. 1)
also increased. The impact resistance is better at E64-J18-V19 compos- 3.3. Thermal studies — Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
ite, as shown in Fig. 2. The maximum values for tensile strength, flexural
The percentage of mass versus temperature curves are shown in
Fig. 6, which shows that with increasing jute fiber content and
Voids due to
fiber pull out
Glass fiber

Voids due to
fiber pull out

Jute fiber Jute fiber

Fig. 3. SEM image for E69-J31-V0 hybrid composites related the voids between fiber and
resin.
Fig. 5. SEM image for E64-J18-V19 hybrid composites related the voids between fibers and
resin.

Glass fiber

Voids due to
fiber pull out

Jute fiber

Fig. 4. SEM image for E68-J25-V7 hybrid composites related the voids between fibers and
resin. Fig. 6. Combined TGA graph of all three different composite materials.
272 R.A. Braga, P.A.A. Magalhaes Jr. / Materials Science and Engineering C 56 (2015) 269–273
Fig. 7. Water absorption graph by time of all composite materials.
decreasing the glass fiber and epoxy resin, there is also a reduction in
mass loss as a function of temperature.
The TGA result of 31% jute fiber and 0% glass fiber reinforced with
epoxy resin (E69-J31-V0) was illustrated in Fig. 6A. Until the tempera-
ture of 100 °C the composite loses only 1.95% of the initial weight,
with 200 °C the weight loss is already 9.00% of mass that corresponds
to the removal of solvent in polymer matrix. Between 200 °C and
450 °C the weight loss was approximately 70.70%, due to degradation
and volatilization with epoxy jute fibers present in the composite.
After that the composite maintains a linear mass loss up to 1000 °C,
where the final residue is only 6.48% of the original mass.
The TGA result of 25% jute fiber and 7% glass fiber reinforced
with epoxy resin (E68-J25-V7) was illustrated in Fig. 6B. Until the tem-
perature of 100 °C the composite loses only 1.52% of the initial weight,
with 200 °C the weight loss is already 7.76% of mass that corresponds
to the removal of solvent in polymer matrix. Between 200 °C and
450 °C the weight loss was approximately 68.97%, due to degradation
and volatilization with epoxy jute fibers present in the composite.
After that the composite maintains a linear mass loss up to 1000 °C,
where the final residue is only 17.50% of the original mass.
The TGA result of 18% jute fiber and 19% glass fiber reinforced with
epoxy resin (E64-J18-V19) was illustrated in Fig. 6C. Until the tempera-
ture of 100 °C the composite loses only 1.27% of the initial weight, with
200 °C the weight loss is already 6.57% of mass that corresponds to the
removal of solvent in polymer matrix. Between 200 °C and 450 °C the
weight loss was approximately 63.54%, due to degradation and volatili-
zation with epoxy jute fibers present in the composite. After that the
composite maintains a linear mass loss up to 1000 °C, where the final
residue is only 24.19% of the original mass.
3.4. Water absorption studies
The water absorption behavior of all three specimens was deter-
mined in terms of weight increase for composite specimen immersed
in water at 23 °C. The increase in weight percent was compared and
showed in Fig. 7.
4. Conclusions
The investigation deals about the mechanical, thermal properties
and water absorption property was studied for jute fiber and glass
fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composites.
The density of E69-J31-V0 composite with more percentage of jute
fiber is better at 7.66% in relation of E68-J25-V7 composite and 19.57%
in relation of E64-J18-V19 composite. The impact energy of E64-J18-
V19 composite with more percentage of glass fiber is better only at
2.62% in relation to E68-J25-V7 composite and 59.50% in relation to
E69-J31-V0 composite. The mechanical properties increased with
more proportions of glass fibers, the tensile strength increased 68.70%
to the E68-J25-V7 composite and a further increase of 92.01% to E64-
J18-V19 composite in relation to E69-J31-V0 composite. The flexural
strength did not have a significant increase, which was only 1.99% to
E68-J25-V7 composite and 2.24% to E64-J18-V19 composite in relation
to E69-J31-V0 composite.
In terms of thermal properties, the composite E69-J31-V0 with more
percentage of jute fiber lost more mass in function of temperature and
the composite with more percentage of glass fiber E64-J18-V19 lost
less weight with increasing temperature. After 1172 h of immersion in
water, the absorption of E69-J31-V0, E68-J25-V7 and E64-J18-V19 com-
posites was 15.8%, 13.7% and 11.7% respectively. So the composite with
more percentage of jute fiber absorbed more water than the composites
with more glass fiber.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the generous support of the “Pontificia
Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais — PUCMINAS”, the “Coordenação
de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior — CAPES”, the
“Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico —
CNPq” and the “Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa de Minas Gerais —
FAPEMIG”.
References
[1] T. Martins, The concept of sustainable development and its historical context. 2003.
Website http://jus2.uol.com.br/doutrina/texto.asp?id=54902010 (Accessed:
May, 12).
[2] ASM, Metals handbook, Composites, vol. 21, American Society of Metals, Interna-
tional Handbook Committee, 2001.
[3] E.N. Pires, Effect of Surface Treatment on Jute Fibers on the Mechanical Behavior of
Epoxy Matrix Composites(Master's degree) UFSC, Florianópolis, SC, 2009.
[4] G. Justiz Smith Jr Nilza, Buchanan Vernon, Potential of Jamaican banana, coir, ba-
gasse fiber as composite materials, Mater. Charact. 59 (2008) 1273–1278.
[5] S.V. Joshi, L.T. Drzal, A.K. Mohanty, S. Arora, Are natural fiber composites environ-
mentally superior to glass fiber-reinforced composites, Compos. Part A 35 (2004)
371–376.
[6] A. Mir, R. Zitoune, F. Collombet, B. Bezzazi, Study of mechanical and
thermomechanical properties of jute/epoxy composite laminate, J. Reinf. Plast.
Compos. 29 (2010) 1669–1680.
[7] B. Hachemane, R. Zitoune, B. Bezzazi, C. Bouvet, Sandwich composites impact and
indentation behaviour study, Compos. Part B 51 (2013) 1–10.
[8] M. Boopalan, M. Nirranjanaa, M.J. Umapathy, Study on the mechanical properties
and thermal properties of jute and banana fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid compos-
ites, Compos. Part B 51 (2013) 51–57.
 R.A. Braga, P.A.A. Magalhaes Jr. / Materials Science and Engineering C 56 (2015) 269–273
[9] N. Venkateshwaran, et al., Mechanical and water absorption behavior of banana/
sisal reinforced hybrid composites, Mater. Des. 32 (2011) 4017–4021.
[10] M.S. Sreekalaa, George Jayamol, M.G. Kumaran, Thomas Sabu, The mechanical per-
formance of hybrid phenol–formaldehyde-based composites reinforced with glass
and oil palm fibers, Compos. Sci. Technol. 62 (2002) 339–353.
[11] Kasama Jarukumjorn, Nitinat Suppakarn, Effect of glass fiber hybridization on prop-
erties of sisal fiber–polypropylene composites, Compos. Part B (2009) 623–627.
[12] Hazim Al-Qureshi, Introduction to the Reinforced Plastic Materials, UFSC,
Florianópolis, 2002.
273
[13] ASTM D638-03, Standard test method for testing tensile properties of plastics, 2003.
[14] ASTM D790-07, Standard tests method for testing flexural properties of unrein-
forced and reinforced plastics and electrical insulating material, 2007.
[15] ASTM D256-06a, Standard test method for determining Izod pendulum impact re-
sistance of plastics, 2006.
[16] ASTM D570-98, Standard test method for water absorption of plastics, 1998.