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 Jute Reinforced Composite Technology

Replacement of glass fibre reinforcement by 80% by weight of jute and replacement of filler (calcium carbonate) by 25% by weight of jute in DMC formulation increase the mechanical properties of the composite at a greater level. Such judicious selection of jute fibre for making hybrid composite with glass fibre brings down the cost of the laminate by almost 28%. A comparative study has been done on DMC & Jute-glass hybrid composite as given in Table 4.

Table-4 : Comparative properties of Dough Moulding Compound (DMC) 
and Jute-Glass Fibre Hybrid Composite (JGHC)
Type of Composite & Resin Tensile strength
    (Mpa) Tensile   Modulus
    (Gpa) Flexural  Strength
    (Mpa) Flexural  Modulus
    (Gpa)

  Dough Moulding  Compound (DMC) 60-808-1470-1005-8
  Jute-Glass  Fibre  Hybrid  Composite 110-15010-16110-18010-14
  Polyester resin35-603-450-703-4
Another project being considered under the Advanced Composites Mission deals with the development of 'Thermoplastics & Natural Fibre based Composites' for wood substitute.  The project would aim 
at developing natural fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite granules (termed as 'POLYWOOD') made of natural fibre waste compounded with thermoplastics.  The project would utilize industrial (Polypropylene & Polyethylene waste) & agro-wastes (jute/saw/rice mill waste) as raw materials.  The granules would be moulded/ extruded by a cost-effective production process for the products viz. crates, pallets, trays, boxes, bobbin, spool, suitcase shell etc. and other applications in railways, automobile, electrical & electronics and  chemical industries. The mechanical characterisation, compounding formulations and standardisation & certification of products etc. would be investigated under this project. The raw materials, intermediates & final products produced would be tested at every stage to establish their characteristics. 

   The Mission is also considering a project on Jute Based Composite Components for Footwear. The end products to be developed under the  project are toe puff, counter stiffener, insoles and cut & skived components for ready to use as per customer requirement. Toe puff is used in toe (front) portion and counter stiffener is used in backside of footwear. Both are inserted between the leather & lining material for the purpose of stiffness, shape retention etc. 
 The main target of the project is to replace the existing materials as produced from leather board, man made synthetic non-woven, woven cotton fabrics etc. with jute fabrics or jute mixed with other fabrics.  Jute Non-woven or Jute/cotton woven fabrics are impregnated in the Adhesive or Emulsion made of Polystyrene- SBR, Latex, PVA etc. for the purpose of obtaining stiffness in the materials.

   Since jute has good strength & compatibility with rubber, thermoplastics  hot melt adhesives, this new technology could lead to better shape retention, strength, mouldability, flexibility etc. of the footwear component apart from considerable cost reduction. The properties of all the items to be developed viz-a-viz existing products would be evaluated at various stages. Further, necessary modifications would also be carried out based on the material characterisation report.