A Study on The Crack Behavior of Jute-Polyester Composites

Abstract

Natural fiber composites are an alternative for replacing environmentally harmful synthetic materials and help control pollution problems. In addition, they are low cost, have better mechanical properties and require low production energy consumption. Also, using such materials in construction works, it is possible to improve the sustainability by eliminating construction wastes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the crack propagation of bending test on jute fiber-reinforced resin composites with orientation of 90° and 45°. In this study Jute fiber was spun with a diameter 1.5 mm and arranged into two layers with orientation 90^o and 45^o . It’s used  a matrix of clear resin type polyester with a volume fraction 5:95. Bending test specimen is based on ASTM D5045. The results showed that composites with 45^o fiber orientation had greater value of crack propagation than  composites with 90^o fiber orientation. The elastic energy of composites with 45^o fiber orientation  tend to decrease dramatically as the initial crack length increases.