Fracture and Failure Behavior of Jute-Reinforced Polymer Composites

C. BERNAL Y B. LAUKE

Handbook of Engineering Biopolymers, Homopolymers, Blends and Composites

Hanser Publishers

Año: 2007; p. 311 - 333

In this chapter, the results of recent investigations on jute-reinforced polymer composites are presented emphasizing on the fracture and failure behavior of these materials. For jute reinforced thermosets, several treatments were successfully applied onto the fibers mainly to improve strength and water absorption properties via the enhancement of the fiber/matrix interface. In the case of thermoplastic matrices, on the other hand, the use of compatibilizers is more frequent and also leads to improved properties. However, much more effort should be done to obtain significant improvements in the fracture and failure behavior of these materials to make them more competitive with their synthetic counterparts, especially for severe structural applications such as those subjected to impact loads. In addition, the great number of factors affecting the composites behavior makes the analysis of their effect very complex and therefore, many questions still remain unsolved.