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Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers: Water

Absorption, Thickness Swelling, Density, Morphology, and
Mechanical Properties

Article  in  Journal of Natural Fibers · March 2014

DOI: 10.1080/15440478.2013.825067

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Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir

Fibers: Water Absorption, Thickness
Swelling, Density, Morphology, and
Mechanical Properties
a b c
Sudhir Kumar Saw , Khurshid Akhtar , Narendra Yadav & Ashwini
a
Kumar Singh
a
Central Instrumentation Facility, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi, India
b
Post Graduate Department of Chemistry, Ranchi College, Ranchi,
India
c
Department of Space Engineering and Rocketry, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi,
India
Published online: 03 Mar 2014.

To cite this article: Sudhir Kumar Saw, Khurshid Akhtar, Narendra Yadav & Ashwini Kumar Singh
(2014) Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers: Water Absorption, Thickness Swelling,
Density, Morphology, and Mechanical Properties, Journal of Natural Fibers, 11:1, 39-53, DOI:
10.1080/15440478.2013.825067

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 Journal of Natural Fibers, 11:39–53, 2014
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ISSN: 1544-0478 print/1544-046X online
DOI: 10.1080/15440478.2013.825067

Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers:

Water Absorption, Thickness Swelling, Density,
Morphology, and Mechanical Properties

SUDHIR KUMAR SAW,1 KHURSHID AKHTAR,2 NARENDRA

YADAV,3 and ASHWINI KUMAR SINGH1
1
Central Instrumentation Facility, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi, India
2
Post Graduate Department of Chemistry, Ranchi College, Ranchi, India
3
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Department of Space Engineering and Rocketry, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi, India

The action of water in natural fiber-reinforced composite mate-

rial was studied so as to produce great swelling with resultant
changes in the fine structure, dimensional stability, and mechan-
ical properties. Water absorption and thickness swelling test reveal
that hybrid composite shows water absorption moderately, which is
15.3% for hybrid coir/jute/coir composite and 11.2% for hybrid
jute/coir/jute composite. The thickness swelling, water absorp-
tion, and mechanical properties of the hybrid composites slightly
increased as the layering pattern of hybrid composites changed.
Hybridization of coir fibers composites with jute fibers can improve
the dimensional stability, extensibility and density of pure coir
composites. Microstructures of the composites were examined to
understand the mechanisms for the fiber-matrix interaction in
relation to mechanical properties.

KEYWORDS hybrid composites, biofibers, water absorption, thick-

ness swelling, mechanical properties, SEM

Address correspondence to Sudhir Kumar Saw, Central Instrumentation Facility, BIT,

Mesra, Ranchi 835215, India. E-mail: cif@bitmesra.ac.in

39
 40 S. K. Saw et al.
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INTRODUCTION

Recently, the use of natural fibers as replacement to man-made fiber in

fiber-reinforced composites have increased and opened up further indus-
trial possibilities. A lot of research work has been performed all over the
world on the use of natural fibers as a reinforcing material for the prepa-
ration of various types of composites. Natural fibers have the advantages
of low density, low cost, worldwide availability, renewability, biodegrad-
ability, ease of preparation, lower energy requirements for processing, and
relative nonabrasiveness over traditional reinforcing synthetic fibers (Abdul
et al. 2007; Asasutjarit et al. 2009; Bledzki et al. 2010). Their softness is
also an advantage in relationship to the common synthetic fibers like glass
fibers. Moreover, natural fibers are environmentally friendly and neutral with
respect to CO2 . To improve the stability, understanding of the water absorp-
tion process and impact of the absorbed water on the dimensional change is
important (Lin et al. 2002).
Jute is a lignocellulosic bast fiber obtained from the bark of two
cultivated species of the genus Chorchorus (Chorchorus capsularis and
Chorchorus olitorius). Jute fiber has some inherent advantages over other
fibers for its renewable nature, biodegradability, high strength, and initial
modulus, but it also carries some crucial disadvantages of high coarseness,
high stiffness, low extensibility, and ready susceptibility to microbial attack
etc (Hassan 2003; Singh et al. 2000). The coir (Cocos nucifera) is an important
lignocellulosic hard and stiff fiber obtained from coconut trees, which grow
extensively in tropical countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc. The
annual world production of coconut is about 42 million MT, which would
equate to almost 50 billion coconuts. Several studies have been carried out to
understand the structure, properties, and the influence of chemical modifica-
tion on coir fibers. Because of its hardwearing quality, durability, and other
advantages, it is used for making a wide variety of floor furnishing materials,
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 41

yarn, rope, etc (Espert et al. 2003). However, these traditional coir products
consume only a small part of the potential total world production of coconut
husk. Hence, research and development efforts have been underway to find
new applications area for coir fibers including utilization of coir fibers as
reinforcement in polymer composites due to their higher mechanical and
physical characteristics in relation to high lignin content, microfibrillar angle,
and strain value (Monteiro et al. 2008; Varma et al. 1985).
Composite materials comprising of two or more fibers in a single matrix
are called as hybrid composites. It has also been attracting the attention of
researchers. Hybridization with more than one fiber type in the same matrix
provides another dimension to the potential versatility of fiber-reinforced
composite materials. Properties of the hybrid composites may not follow a
direct consideration of the independent properties of the individual compo-
nents (Ashori and Sheshamani 2010; Baker et al. 2005; Haque et al. 2009;
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Idicula et al. 2005; Jarukumjorn and Suppakarn 2009).

In the present study, coir fiber is hybridized with small quantities (25%)
of stronger jute fiber and reinforced epoxy novolac matrix to develop cost
effective and high performance composites because these fibers are strain
compatible. The intrinsic properties of jute and coir fibers are given in
Table 1. The jute fibers have high cellulose content, high aspect ratio due to
low value of diameter and low microfibrillar angle 8.1o due to parallel ori-
entation of microfibrils possess high tensile properties. Hence the inherent
physicomechanical properties of jute fiber are better than coir fiber. The coir
fiber is porous in nature and has high value of microfibrillar angle due to
spiral orientation of microfibrils. Hence, coir fiber has less tensile properties
but the coir fiber has certain unique properties, which make it very attrac-
tive. Among natural fibers, coir fibers have low density ranging from 1.0 to
1.2 g/cm3 and high failure strain value of 40–45% between fiber and matrix.
This has the potential to ameliorate the toughness when they are used in
composites (Tran et al. 2011). So jute and coir can be selected to hybridize

TABLE 1 Physical properties of jute and coir fiber

Physical properties Jute fiber Coir fiber

Density (gm/cc) 1.45 ± 0.1 1.2 ± 0.1

Cellulose content (%) 65 ± 2 33.28 ± 1.21
Hemicelluloses content (%) 20 ± 2 12.67 ± 1.44
Lignin content (%) 12 ± 2 46.84 ± 0.8
Microfibrillar angle (o) 8.1 39 ± 5
Diameter (µm) 115 ± 5 200 ± 10
Lumen width (µm) 5±2 12 ± 5
Tensile Strength (MPa) 473 144.6
Young’s Modulus (MPa) 19500 3101.2
Elongation at break (%) 1.17 ± 0.2 32.3 ± 0.2
Aspect ratio (L/D) 365 ± 10 100 ± 5
 42 S. K. Saw et al.

and reinforce with laboratory prepared epoxy novolac resin to study some
mechanical and physical properties of these composites in terms of long-
term thickness swelling, water absorption, and density. Microstructures of
various formulated composites were examined to understand the mecha-
nisms for the fiber-matrix interaction which affects dimensional stability and
mechanical strength of the hybrid composites.

EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
The coir fiber (Bristol fiber, Cocos nucifera, diameter = 200–240 µm; den-
sity = 1.0–1.2 g/cm3 ; and micro-fibril angle = 30–39◦ ) was obtained from
Central Coir Research Institute, Alleppy, Kerala, India. Jute fiber (Grade – W2,
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Chorchorus capsularis) was obtained from Fort-Gloster Jute Mill, Howrah,

India. Phenol and 37% w/w formalin were obtained from E. Merck, India
were used as received for novolac preparation. Epichlorohydrin and sodium
hydroxide were used for epoxidation of novolac resin and purchased from
S.D. Fine Chemicals, India. Di-ethylene triamine (DETA) was used as a
hardener for the epoxy novolac resins. The physical properties of jute and
coir fibers are given in Table 1.

Synthesis of Epoxy Novolac Resin

The epoxy novolac resin (ENR) was prepared by two step reactions. The
first step was involved in the formation of novolac resin through chemical
reaction between phenol and formaldehyde in acid environment. In the sec-
ond step, the epoxidation of previously prepared novolac resin was carried
out by reacting epichlorohydrin with a novolac resin in a specific molar ratio.
The detail of the synthesis of novolac resin and its epoxidation was described
in our previous research, and proposed reaction schemes are also presented
earlier (Saw et al. 2012).

Fabrication of Composite Materials

A hand lay-up technique followed by compression molding was adopted for
composite fabrication. The chopped fiber mat of jute (J) and Coir (C) fibers
each of 1 cm length were used in the preparation of hybrid composites.
It was then impregnated with epoxy novolac resin in mold of dimensions
100 mm × 100 mm × 3 mm. In each composite, the volume ratio of matrix
to fiber is 70:30. Composites with different sequence of fiber mat arrange-
ment such as jute/coir/jute (J/C/J) and coir/jute/coir (C/J/C) were prepared
by keeping the relative coir/jute fiber volume ratios constant, i.e., 3:1. The
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 43

FIGURE 1 A sketch of different configuration of layering pattern of hybrid composite.

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curing of resin was done by the incorporation of epoxy novolac and hard-
ener (DETA) in volume ratio of 80:20 in 100 mL of acetone (act as thinner
or diluents). The composite was allowed to set for 24 h at room tempera-
ture. Thereafter, the composite was compression-molded at 3 MPa and ◦ C
for one hour followed by post-curing at 100◦ C for 2 h in an oven. Before
making the composite, the press machine was degassed to remove air bub-
bles and voids. A neat epoxy novolac matrix (unfilled) sample was prepared
and epoxy novolac resin with pure coir and pure jute fiber composites were
also prepared. A sketch of the different layer configurations are given in
Figure 1. The test specimens for mechanical properties, water absorption,
dimensional stability, and density were cut from the composites according
to ASTM standards.

CHARACTERIZATION OF ENR-BASED JUTE/COIR HYBRID

COMPOSITES
Dimensional Stability Test
The dimensional stability tests involved were thickness swelling and water
absorption. Thickness swelling and water absorption were conducted as
per ASTM D 5229. Before testing, the weight and thickness of each spec-
imen were measured. Five specimens of each formulated composite were
immersed in distilled water at room temperature. The specimens were
removed from the water after certain period of time and wiped with a cotton
cloth before the weight and thickness value was measured. The weight and
thickness value of the specimens were taken and then immersed again in
water. The dimension stability test was continued for several hours until the
constant weight and thickness of specimens obtained.
 44 S. K. Saw et al.

Density
Density was measured by using ASTM D 1895 standard. The density of the
samples was calculated by using following Equation 1.

Density (g/cm3 ) = m/v (1)

where, m is the mass of composites and v is the volume of composite.

Mass determination was carried out by weighing the composites to four
decimal places on an analytical balance (Mettler 5000). For volume determi-
nation, the samples were measured using a digital vernier calliper (Mitutuyo).
All samples were oven dried at 70◦ C for 24 h. After oven drying, the experi-
mental samples were cooled in a desiccator over granulated silica gel before
mass and volume determination was conducted.
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Mechanical Analysis
The tensile test was carried out with rectangular specimens (width = 10 mm
and thickness = 3 mm) using a universal tensile machine (UTM 3366, Instron)
according to ASTM D 638. A crosshead speed of 1 mm/min was applied. All
tests were conducted under ambient conditions. The data reported were
averages of at least six measurements. For cured ENR (The results are
reported in Table 2) and its composites, six measurements were executed
with each sample. The tensile properties of both of these coir and jute fibers
were determined using the same tensile machine at a strain rate of 1 mm/min
and a gripping length of 50 mm at 23◦ C ±1 ◦ C and 58% relative humidity
(the results are reported in Table 1).
The impact strength of the pure EPN and its hybrid composites was
measured with a standard Izod impact testing machine (model IT 1.4, Fuel
Research Instruments, Maharashtra, India) according to ASTM D 256. The
measurements were done on unnotched samples (70 × 10 × 3 mm) with

TABLE 2 Typical properties of the synthesized epoxy novolac resin

Resin properties Evaluation

Appearance A clear pale yellow liquid

Specific gravity at 25◦ C (gm/cc) 1.119
Viscosity (cps) 475
Epoxy equivalent number 191
Gel point in minutes 26
Solid content (%) 84
Tensile strength (MPa) 7.4
Tensile modulus (MPa) 176
Impact strength (kJ/m2 ) 1.2
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 45

an impact speed of 1 m/s and energy of 1.4 joules. For each specimen, six
measurements were recorded.

Scanning Electron Microscopy

Before their incorporation in the composites, the jute and coir fibers were
analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Model: Jeol-JSM 6390 LV,
Japan) with the following specifications: accelerating voltage, 20 KV; image
mode, secondary electron image; working distance, 20 mm. The test sam-
ples were mounted on aluminum stub and coated with gold metal to avoid
electrical charging during examination. To study the morphological features
of fiber-matrix interface in the composite samples, the tensile test samples
were fractured in liquid nitrogen after 15–20 min of freezing in liquid nitro-
gen. The fractured surfaces were also sputtered with gold and analyzed in
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same specifications. All the test samples were scanned into 1,000 times of
magnification.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Thickness Swelling Test
The result of thickness swelling test is shown in Table 3. The thickness
swelling of composite was mainly because of the exposure of the
lignocellulosic fiber on the surface of composite. However, dimension of
lignocellulosic fiber change with different moisture content. The hydrophilic
properties of lignocellulosic materials and the capillary action will cause the
intake of water when the samples were soaked into water and thus increase
the dimensions of composite. This will cause the swelling of fiber and thus
increase the dimensional stability. Figure 3 shows the long-term immersion
effect on thickness swelling of different composites.
Thickness swelling of composites was carried out for several hours until
a constant weight was obtained. From the Table 3 and Figure 3, it is observed
that the thickness swelling for the pure coir composite with the value 9.63%
was the highest among the different type of composite. This indicated that

TABLE 3 Typical properties (density, water absorption, and thickness swelling) of various
formulated hybrid composites

Type of composites Density (g/cm3 ) Absorption of water (%) Dimensional stability (%)

Epoxy novolac 1.119 0.21 0

Pure coir 1.18 19.74 9.63
Pure jute 1.22 8.2 7.2
Coir/jute/coir 1.19 15.3 9.24
Jute/coir/jute 1.2 11.2 8.35
 46 S. K. Saw et al.
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FIGURE 2 Surface morphology of jute fiber, coir fiber, and various formulated composites.

10

8
Thickness swelling (%)

6
Epoxy novolac
Pure jute
4
Pure coir
Jute/coir/jute
2 Coir/jute/coir

0 50 100 150 200 250

Immersion time (h)

FIGURE 3 Thickness swelling (%) of jute/coir reinforced hybrid composites.

the high porosity or the presence of void on the surface of pure coir compos-
ite. This is responsible for the changes in the dimension of cellulose-based
composites, particularly in the thickness, and the linear expansion due to
reversible and irreversible swelling of the composites (Jawaid et al. 2005).
In contrast, the dimensional stability for the epoxy novolac composite was
the lowest with the value 0%. In other words, there was no thickness swelling
in the epoxy novolac composite. This is due to epoxy novolac resin limit
the absorption of water into the fiber-mat composite because the nature of
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 47

epoxy novolac resin as water resistant matrix. The pure jute composite shows
a moderate dimensional stability with moderate thickness swelling, with the
value of 7.2%. The dimensional stability of coir/jute/coir and jute/coir/jute
hybrid composites shows a moderate value, which are 9.24% and 8.35%.
This indicated that layering pattern would affect thickness swelling due to
pack and hybrid arrangement of fiber. It will limit the absorption of moisture
into the composite, thus limit the swelling of fiber and the percentage of
dimensional stability.

Water Absorption
Water absorption test was used to determine the amount of water absorbed
under specified conditions. In general, moisture diffusion in a composite
depends on factors such as volume fraction of fiber, voids, viscosity of matrix,
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humidity, and temperature. The effect of stacking sequence on the water

absorption properties of the composites is shown in Table 3.
From Table 3 and Figure 4, it is observed that the water absorption for
the pure coir composite with the value of 19.74% was the highest among
the different type of composite. This indicated that the high porosity or the
presence of void on the surface of pure coir composite. With the presence
of voids on the surface of composite, the weight of composite will increase
by trapping the water inside the voids. In contrast, the water absorption for
the epoxy novolac composite was the lowest with the value of 0.21%. This
is because epoxy novolac resin limits the absorption of water into the fiber-
mat composite because epoxy novolac resin acts as water resistant matrix.
The pure jute composite show low absorption of water, i.e., 8.2%, the water

20

16
Water absorption (%)

12

8
ENR
Pure jute
4 Pure coir
Jute/coir/jute
Coir/jute/coir
0

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250

Immersion time (h)

FIGURE 4 Water absorption (%) of jute/coir-reinforced hybrid composites.

 48 S. K. Saw et al.

absorption behavior of the polymer composites depends on the ability of the

fiber to absorb water due to the presence of hydroxyl groups. The hydroxyl
groups absorbed moisture or water through the formation of hydrogen bond-
ing. The higher the moisture content of the natural fiber, the higher is the
change in the mechanical and physical properties of composite. It leads
to poor wetability with matrix, which results in a weak interfacial bonding
between the fiber and matrix (Jawaid et al. 2005).
The hybrid composite shows moderate water absorption, which is 15.3%
for hybrid coir/jute/coir composite and 11.2% for hybrid jute/coir/jute com-
posite. This showed that the pack and hybrid arrangement of fiber would
limit the absorption of moisture into the composite because the voids have
been filled up during the formation of hybrid composite. It is observed that
water uptake of all composites increased with immersion time, reaching
a steady-state value at saturation point (0–20 h), at which point no more
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water was wrapped up and composite water content remained constant.

Water absorption of hybrid composites follows a trend similar to the thick-
ness swelling behavior, increasing with immersion time until an equilibrium
condition is attained.

Density
It is observed from Table 3, that density of pure jute fiber reinforced com-
posites was higher (1.22 g/cm3 ) than other composites. At the same time,
density of pure coir composite is 1.18 g/cm3 , which is lower than other
composites. This shows that there were presence of voids inside the coir
fiber mat, the matrix of epoxy novolac resin may leak out from the void of
coir fiber mat during the processing stage. Yet, the jute fiber mat has low
void between fibers, which the matrix tends to trap within the compound
during processing stage, cause the density increase.

Mechanical Behavior
The importance of mechanical properties is to quantify the reinforcing poten-
tial of the composite system. However, mechanical properties can also give
indirect information about interfacial behavior in composite systems, because
the interaction between the components has a great effect on the mechani-
cal properties of the composites. The mechanical properties of jute and coir
fibers were reported in Table 1. It is observed that the tensile strength and
modulus of jute fiber is higher than that of coir fiber while the diameter
and lumen size of coir fiber is higher than that of jute fiber. Their trend of
variation in the strength, modulus, and elongation of the various formulated
composites are given in Figure 5 (a–d), respectively.
The tensile properties of different layering pattern of hybrid composites
consisting of tri-layer such as coir/jute/coir and jute/coir/jute composites are
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 49

20
(a) Tensile Strength 350 (b) Tensile Modulus

Tensile strength (MPa) 16 300

Tensile Modulus (MPa)

250
12
200

8 150

100
4
50

0 0
Pure jute J/C/J C/J/C Pure coir Pure jute J/C/J C/J/C Pure coir
Various formulated hybrid composites Various formulated hybrid composites

10
(c) Elongation at Break 12 Impact Strength (d)

8 10
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Impact strength (kJ/m2)

%Elongation at break

8
6

6
4
4

2
2

0 0
Pure jute (J) J/C/J C/J/C Pure coir (C) Pure jute (J) J/C/J C/J/C Pure coir (C)
Various formulated hybrid composites Various formulated hybrid composites

FIGURE 5 Mechanical properties of jute/coir-reinforced hybrid composites.

shown in Figure 5. There is significant difference in their properties due to

difference in relative volume ratios of the two fibers (i.e., coir: jute = 3:1).
The tensile strength (Figure 5a) was observed to be higher when jute was
used as the skin material and coir as the core material. The tensile strength
will be higher when the high strength material is used as the skin, which is
the main load bearing component in tensile measurements. In coir/jute/coir,
the value is slightly lower because the low strength coir fiber is used as the
skin material. The diameter and lumen width of jute fiber is lower than that
of coir fiber. The surface area of the jute fiber per unit area of compos-
ite is greater than that of coir fiber and hence, increased the stress transfer
maximum. This is the reason for high tensile strength of jute/coir/jute com-
posite. The same pattern of analysis was observed in the properties of tensile
modulus shown in Figure 5b. The reason for these results is the same as
discussed in the measured tensile properties.
From the measured percent elongation of various composites in
Figure 5c, the elongation was found to be higher in the case of pure
coir reinforced composites while this value is lower in the case of pure
jute-reinforced composites. Regarding the elongation values of natural fiber
 50 S. K. Saw et al.

reinforced composites, structural parameters of fibers such as microbrillar

angle, fiber strength, and fiber aspect ratio play an important role. The
stiffness and ductility of the fiber is also an important factor affecting the
elongation of the corresponding composites. These values are dominated
by the fiber breakage and matrix cracking. The ductile nature of coir fiber
provides strain compatibility between fiber and matrix. The strain compat-
ibility also imparts when jute fiber is hybridized with coir fiber, elongation
is increased. The percentage of elongation is higher in jute/coir/jute hybrid
composite with respect to pure jute composite but lower than coir/jute/coir
hybrid composite and pure coir composite as addition of coir increases the
ductility of composites.
The impact strength of composite materials was directly related to
their overall toughness. The impact performance of fiber-reinforced com-
posites depended on many factors, including the nature of the constituent,
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fiber/matrix interface, the construction and geometry of the composite, and

test conditions. Figure 5d shows the variation of impact strength as a function
of different layering pattern of jute-coir hybrid fiber filled composites. The
impact strength of the pure epoxy novolac matrix is recorded as 1.2 kJ/m2
(Table 2). Comparing the impact strength values of pure matrix and its
hybrid composites, it can be inferred that for all composites the presence
of jute-coir hybrid fibers increased the impact strength, that is, the compos-
ites have better energy absorbing capacity compared to that of pure ENR.
The impact strength of jute fiber-reinforced composites is observed to be
higher than that of the coir fiber reinforced composites. This might be due to
the better fiber-matrix adhesion (Venkateshwaran et al. 2011). The coir fiber
has a greater difficulty in adhering to the matrix which may generate fissures
and decrease impact strength.

Study of Fiber Microstructure and Tensile Fracture Surfaces of Various

Composites
SEM provides an excellent technique for examination of morphological sur-
faces of fiber and its composites. Examinations were carried out onto jute
and coir fibers before their incorporation in composites were shown in
Figure 2. It can be observed in Figure 2a that the filaments in the jute
fiber were packed together due to intercellular binding materials such as
hemicelluloses, waxes, and other natural or artificial surface impurities.
In jute fibers, hemicelluloses, and lignin remain evenly dispersed in the
interfibrillar region confirming compactness of cellulose fibrils. The cellu-
lose chains are, therefore, always in a state of constraint. The close packing
of the cellulose chain causes improvement in fiber strength and its mechan-
ical properties. In Figure 2b, the surface of the coir fiber is porous in nature
and is covered with a layer of pithy and waxy substances, which may include
 Hybrid Composites Made from Jute/Coir Fibers 51

pectin, lignin, and other impurities (as outer protective layer). The surface
is not smooth, spread with nodes and irregular stripes. The unit cells run
longitudinally with more or less parallel orientations. The intercellular gaps,
in the form of shallow longitudinal cavities, can be clearly distinguished, as
the unit cells are partially exposed.
The mechanical properties of composites could be corroborated with
the morphological evidences. The SEM photomicrographs of the cryogeni-
cally tensile fracture surfaces of all formulated composites are also displayed
in Figure 2. The SEM photomicrographs observed in Figure 2(c) and (d)
clearly indicates a significant difference in the interfacial characteristics of
the pure jute and pure coir composites. In the case of pure jute composites,
the fibers appeared to be well wetted by the ENR matrix and considerably
less number of fiber pullout and more fiber breakage due to strong adhe-
sion are observed (Figure 2c). Therefore, the wetability of the jute fiber with
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the ENR matrix enhances the fiber-matrix interfacial bond strength by dif-
fusion of resin matrix into the fiber structure network or vice-versa. This
interdiffusion depends on the correlation between the cohesive energy of
the precured resin matrix and the surface energy of the fiber, among other
factors. On the other hand, for the pure coir composite, there is large num-
ber of fiber pullouts and poor wetting between the fibers and matrix were
noticed (Figure 2d), which indicates inferior interfacial adhesion and high
extent of agglomeration and fiber–fiber interaction.
The observed fiber pull-out phenomenon in the fracture surfaces of the
composites is a kind of index of the adhesiveness between the fibers and the
matrix resin. It can be seen from Figure 2(e) and (f) that for the composites
with layering pattern of fibers (jute/coir/jute and coir/jute/coir) respectively,
fibers are found well embedded in the matrix and less number of fiber
pull outs (less number of holes) were observed. It can also be noted for
these composites that the fiber failed by tearing, but no complete interfacial
failure was observed; indicating that adhesion between the hybrid fibers and
ENR matrix was quite good for reinforcing. There is substantial ENR matrix
adhering to the fiber surfaces; indicating that the interfacial bond strength is
fairly high in configuration of jute/coir/jute composites than coir/jute/coir
due to little difference in surface energies between the fibers and the matrix.

CONCLUSIONS

The present investigation deals with a potential opportunity for the devel-
opment of novel natural fibers reinforced epoxy novolac hybrid composites.
The effect of hybridization of jute fiber on the mechanical properties and
water absorption property was studied. It can be concluded that pure coir
composite had the highest 19.74% of water absorption and highest 9.63% of
 52 S. K. Saw et al.

thickness swelling among the different type of composite. Pure jute compos-
ites showed the lowest percentage in both water absorption and thickness
swelling. From physical properties testing, it can be concluded that pure jute
fiber composites have highest density as compared to the other compos-
ites. The hybridization of coir and jute fibers substantially improved both
the dimensional stability and mechanical properties of the composites. The
maximum and minimum values of mechanical and water-resistance prop-
erties was recorded for the epoxy novolac composites reinforced pure jute
and coir fibers, respectively, which is due to the high complex conformity
and stability of the jute fibers. The trilayer jute/coir/jute composite showed
better properties compared to coir/jute/coir hybrid composites. It can be
concluded that jute fibers act as barrier to prevent diffusion of water. The
morphological features of the composites were well corroborated with the
mechanical properties. On the basis of above studies, it can be concluded
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that an optimal configuration of jute-coir hybrid fibers could effectively rein-

force the epoxy novolac resin and enable to achieve satisfactory properties
of the composites for various engineering applications.

FUNDING

The authors are thankful to Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi,

India for providing instrumental facility [CIF] and financial assistance during
the research work. Thanks to Central Coir Research Institute, Kerala, India
and Fort-Gloster Jute Mill, Howrah, India for supplying raw natural fiber.

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