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Elastic constants of tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy and woven

aloe/epoxy composites under the influence of porosity

Article in Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites · May 2017

DOI: 10.1177/0731684417710108

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Original article
Journal of Reinforced Plastics
and Composites

Elastic constants of tapered laminated 2017, Vol. 36(19) 1453–1469

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DOI: 10.1177/0731684417710108
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porosity

Vimalanand Suthenthiraveerappa and Venkatachalam Gopalan

Abstract
Anisotropic nature of plant fiber and various plant fiber-correlated porosities are the major setbacks in evaluating the
elastic constants of plant fiber-reinforced polymer composites theoretically. An attempt is made here to get rid of those
setbacks and focuses toward the evaluation of accurate elastic constants of composites. In this work, mechanical char-
acteristics such as tensile, flexure, and shear characteristics of woven jute/epoxy and woven aloe/epoxy composites are
determined. The experimentally measured elastic constants of composites are further used to find the elastic anisotropy
of the jute and aloe fibers using the proposed model which is a combined model of Halpin–Tsai equations and laminate
analogy approach with the inclusion of porosity correction factor. Using the theoretically predicted elastic properties of
fiber, the elastic constants of the tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy and woven aloe/epoxy composites are evaluated
using the proposed model.

Keywords
Fiber anisotropy, plant fiber composites, porosity, true density, thickness taper, Halpin–Tsai, laminate analogy, woven aloe
fabric, woven jute fabric

Introduction fibers length is an intrinsic nature of each plant which

Plant fibers, used as reinforcement in fiber-reinforced
polymer (FRP) composites, are themselves the material
with anisotropic in nature. Plant fibers are generally
composed of large number of microtubules oriented
along the fiber direction, which in turn composed of a
variety of substances including cellulose, lignin, and
hemicellulose. Cellulose, the primary constituent of
plant fibers, has a direct relationship with fiber stiffness
and strength. The plant fibers are typically stiffer in the
direction of the cellulose microfibrils and more compli-
ant in the perpendicular direction. Bast fibers such as
flax, hemp, kenaf, bamboo, and jute have a high level of
cellulose crystallinity than the leaf fibers such as sisal,
pineapple, henequen, aloe, etc.1–3
Plant fiber characteristics such as fiber length, dens-
ity, non-uniformity in cross-section’s shape and size
and the fiber morphology will create the challenge in
conversion of raw natural fibers into yarn/fabric form.
Only a few natural fibers are succeeded in fabric con-
version, others are in research stage. Natural fibers are
usually found as short reinforcements, because the
restricts the formation of yarn packed with continuous
filaments just like a synthetic yarn. Natural fiber yarn is
a long continuous assembly of relatively short fibers.
All the natural fiber filaments in the spun yarn are
aligned in one direction along a helical trajectory.4,5
Nowadays there is a growing interest toward the use
of cellulosic fiber-based woven fabric in the manufac-
turing of FRP composites. Most of the composite
industries rely on fabric kind of reinforcement.
Fabrication of laminated composite structure is pos-
sible only with unidirectional or bidirectional fabric
reinforcement. Though the conversion process of
Department of Design and Automation, School of Mechanical
Engineering, VIT University, Vellore, India
Corresponding author:
Vimalanand Suthenthiraveerappa, Department of Design and
Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, VIT University, Vellore
632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: svanand.reg@gmail.com
1454
plant fiber to fabric is difficult, this natural fiber fabric
enlarges its usage space in the composites world. Also it
indirectly promotes agriculture, agriculture-based sec-
tors and provides the green environment. This cellulosic
fiber-based woven fabric composite offers acceptable
mechanical and physical properties and made ease
in composite fabrication.6–8 Moreover, the fabric
reinforcement helps to tailor the structural properties
as per demand, which could not be attainable in
random fiber arrangement.
In practice, the composite structures used in all
engineering applications are not uniform, but some
applications are in need of tapered structure.9 Woven
natural fiber fabrics not only provides opportunity to
fabricate the uniform laminated composites, but also
offers opportunity to fabricate the tapered laminated
composite structures. Tapering in laminated composite
structures is achieved by dropping off the plies at dif-
ferent locations to yield tailoring in structural proper-
ties which could not be attainable in uniform composite
plates. The thickness tapered laminated composite
structure is desirable when the applications need the
structure need to be stiff at one location, where large
displacements are experienced and flexible at the other
location, where large flapping motions are required to
achieve better strength and weight requirements. The
stacking sequence of tapered laminated composite
plays a major role in formulation of the stiffness and
damping properties of the structure.10,11 In order to
study the structural analysis of the Plant FRP
(PFRP) composites theoretically, the estimation of its
accurate elastic constants is a must.
Determination of exact volumetric compositions
fractions of PFRP composite plays a major role in
the evaluation of the elastic constants of composites.
Fiber density is an important parameter in calculating
volume fractions of composite constituents which in
turn helps to estimate the elastic constants of compos-
ites through the theoretical models. The fiber density,
determined using the conventional density measure-
ment techniques based on Archimedes buoyancy prin-
ciple, provides only an apparent density of plant fibers.
This is due to the existence of pores and luminal cavities
in plant fibers and the type of fluid medium used in
measurement. Some of the other ways of estimating
fiber content/fiber density, which are being followed
in the case of synthetic FRP composites such as resin
burn-off and acid/chemical digestion, will not provide
fruitful results for the PFRP composites. The true dens-
ity of fiber can be found through Helium Gas pycno-
metry where the Helium gas molecules rapidly fill pores
in the fiber as small as one angstrom in diameter but the
liquid medium used in conventional density measure-
ment techniques would not.12,13
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)
In the PFRP composites, the porosity is an inevit-
able part but it has been neglected or not clearly
explored in most of the studies.14 Porosity considered
in some of the literature are namely the fiber-correlated
porosity, matrix-correlated porosity, and structural
porosity. Fiber-correlated porosity deals with air filled
cavities inside the fiber (fiber porosity) as well as the
fiber bundles (Impregnation porosity) and porosity
formed by the fiber/matrix debond (Interface porosity).
Matrix porosity is identified as the air filled cavities in
the matrix. However, the structural porosity was
strictly related to the matrix regions, where the pores
are formed during the fabrication process of the com-
posites.15–17 Identification and inclusion of true density
and porosity of plant fiber help to determine the exact
volume fractions of fiber, composite density, and por-
osity content in composite.
Some of the micromechanical models available for
synthetic short fiber-reinforced composites are insuffi-
cient to handle the plant fibers due to the anisotropic
characteristics of plant fiber. In the literature, where the
plant fiber considered as isotropic, the theoretical evalu-
ation of the elastic constants of PFRP composites are
not in good agreement with the experimental values.18,19
This is due to the anisotropic nature of natural fiber and
the selection of the inappropriate theoretical model.20
Few studies have concentrated on the elastic prop-
erty evaluation of woven natural fiber fabric-reinforced
composites using the laminate analogy approach.21,22
Some authors used the Cox–Krenchel model, where
the dimension, orientation factor, porosity correction
factor have been included in the property evaluation
of PFRP composites. Using Cox–Krenchel model, stu-
dies reported in the literature mainly concentrated on
the evaluation of tensile elastic properties of the
random oriented/unidirectional natural fiber-reinforced
composites but not on the evaluation of other elastic
constants.23–25 Halpin–Tsai and Tsai–Hahn models are
the most popular semi-empirical models and in that
Halpin–Tsai is one of the widely cited models to calcu-
late the elastic properties of short fiber-reinforced com-
posites. On comparison with other models such as
modified Eshelby and modified shear-lag models,
Halpin–Tsai model provides a good prediction of elas-
tic constants for the low fiber volume fractions and also
the Halpin–Tsai model has the ability to handle the
fiber anisotropy.26,27
The complexity and difficulty exist in the extraction
of all the relevant material properties of the plant fibers
through experimental testing are well known. Some
of the studies reported in the literature, have confirmed
the anisotropic characteristics of natural fiber using the
theoretical modeling, but still it has not been explored
for all natural fibers. Few studies considered the aniso-
tropic characteristics of fiber in evaluating the
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan 1455

unidirectional PFRP composite properties, where aloe fiber, especially its mechanical characteristics, is
the fiber was assumed as a linear, homogeneous trans- very limited. The aloe fiber is often called as green
versely isotropic material, with the regular circular aloe and it belongs to Agavaceae (Agaves) family.
cylindrical cross-section.28–33 Although the jute fiber The aloe fiber is a kind of leaf fiber, which grows
is well exposed and its anisotropic characteristics are mainly in the dry regions of Africa, Asia, Europe,
back calculated in some works, influence of plant and America. In India, the aloe fiber is found mainly
fiber-associated porosities have not been considered in in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
those works. But in the case of aloe fiber, no attempt and Maharashtra. The plain woven aloe and jute fab-
has been made in the evaluation of elastic anisotropy. rics are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
To the best of authors literature review, no works
have been reported so far in the estimation of the
material constants of fiber using the combined model
of Halpin–Tsai equations and laminate analogy
approach considering the inclusion of porosity correc-
tion factor and fiber anisotropy. Also the investigations
on mechanical behaviors of aloe fiber-reinforced com-
posites have not been reported much. Furthermore, the
authors have not found any reported literature in the
fabrication and evaluation of material constants of
thickness tapered laminated woven natural fiber
fabric-reinforced polymer composites.
The aim of this work is to evaluate the elastic con-
stants of the jute and aloe fibers such as longitudinal
modulus E1f , transverse modulus E2f , Poisson ratio 12f ,
and shear modulus G12f using the developed model
which is a combination of Halpin–Tsai model and
laminate analogy approach considering the inclusion
of porosity correction factor and fiber anisotropy
with the help of the material constants of woven jute/
epoxy (WJFRP) and woven aloe/epoxy (WAFRP)
composites determined experimentally. The reason,
behind the use of two fibers in this work, is to find
out the effectiveness of the proposed model with the
Figure 1. Woven aloe fabric.
well-reported jute fiber. Then the proposed model is
used to evaluate the elastic constants of aloe fiber.
Exact volume fractions of fiber, matrix, and porosity
have been found by the incorporation of true density of
fiber, experimentally measured fiber porosity and the
calculated structural porosity which helps to improve
the accuracy of theoretical evaluation of elastic con-
stants of composites. Also the calculated fiber material
constants help to evaluate the elastic constants of the
thickness tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy and
woven aloe/epoxy composites.

Materials
For this study, epoxy resin LY556 and the hardener
HY951 are procured from S.M. Composites, Chennai,
India. The mixing ratio of the epoxy-hardener is 10:1.
Two different woven natural fiber fabrics namely plain
woven jute and aloe fiber fabrics are procured from
Anakaputhur Weavers Association, Chennai, India.
The jute fiber is a kind of bast fiber and it is well
exposed to the composites world. But the research on Figure 2. Woven jute fabric.
1456
Alkali treatment of fibers
Some of the benefits of alkali-treated plant fibers men-
tioned in several literatures are as follows: (i) it
increases the surface roughness by the disruption of
hydrogen bonding in the fiber surface resulting in
better adhesion between fiber and matrix; (ii) it
increases the amount of cellulose exposed on the fiber
surface, thus increasing the number of possible reaction
sites.34
In this investigation, woven aloe fabrics are washed
gently in water to remove contaminants and excess
hairs on fabric, and then it is dried at room temperature
for 48 h at first. After the fabrics get dried, it is
immersed in 5 wt% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution
for 30 min, and then the fabrics are washed several
times in water and subsequently washed three times
with distilled water, to remove the remaining sodium
hydroxide. Finally, the fabrics are dried at room tem-
perature for 12 h and consequently dried in an oven at
70 C for 24 h. The alkali treatment of fibers provides
better compatibility with the epoxy matrix.35,36 The jute
fibers are not exposed to any chemical treatment in this
work.
Tapered composite plates
In the thickness tapered laminated composites, resin
pockets are introduced at different locations due to
ply drop off and hence the volume fractions of its con-
stituents will vary when compared to uniform lami-
nated composites. This in turn will influence the
material constants of tapered laminated woven natural
fabric composites. Like tapered laminated synthetic
FRP composites, the material constants cannot be eval-
uated easily for the tapered laminated PFRP compos-
ites, due to the anisotropic characteristics of fiber. In
this work, overlapping dropped plies taper
Figure 3. Taper configuration.
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)
configuration is used for fabrication. The schematic
representation of taper configuration used is shown in
Figure 3.
HL and HR shown in Figure 3 are the left-hand side
thickness and right-hand side thickness, respectively,
d is the number of domains and L is the length of the
plate.
Composite fabrication
The WJFRP and WAFRP composites are fabricated
using the vacuum bagging technique. Before the fabri-
cation process, the fabrics are kept in an oven for 12 h
at 70 C to eliminate the moisture content. First, one
layer of fabric is impregnated with the resin hardener
mixture and the excess resin is wiped off with the wall
decorative tool and then the next fabric layer is placed
over the other. The same procedure is followed for all
layers. All the fabric layers are placed with the same
orientation. As the natural fiber fabric thickness is very
high compared to the synthetic fabric, application of
resin over the fabric really imparts some difficulty
during the fabrication. To saturate the fabric fully espe-
cially in the case of aloe fiber fabric, large quantity of
resin is applied to each fabric layer.
After the laminate is prepared using hand layup
method, the porous release film is spread over the
laminate. Then the double layered breather cloth is
placed on top of the porous release film to suck the
excess resin and for the distribution of equal resin con-
tent throughout the plate. Then this entire arrangement
is packed inside the vacuum bag safely and sealed it
properly. This vacuum bag is connected to the
vacuum pump through the hose. Then the vacuum
pump is operated for 1 h. The laminate inside the
vacuum bag is cured at room temperature for 6 h with-
out removing the seal. Once the laminated composite
plate removed from the vacuum bagging setup, it is
post cured in an oven at 90 C for 3 h. The same pro-
cedure is followed for all the composite fabrication.
The composite plates are fabricated for different pur-
poses viz. to identify the mechanical characteristics of
composites experimentally, to identify the elastic con-
stants of fiber anisotropy with the help of uniform plate
and to identify the elastic constants of tapered lami-
nated composites. The fabricated uniform composite
plate has eight layers and the thickness tapered com-
posite plate, with two domains, has eight layers on
thick side and four layers on thin side. In all composite
fabrication, the woven fabric is aligned in 0 orienta-
tion. The fabricated thickness tapered laminated
WAFRP and WJFRP composites are shown in
Figures 4 and 5, respectively.
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan
Figure 4. WAFRP composite plate.
Figure 5. WJFRP composite plate.
Experimental evaluation of fiber
and composite characteristics
Fiber characterization
The preliminary characteristics of jute and aloe fiber
(yarn and fabric), needed for this study, are found
out experimentally. The physical and mechanical char-
acteristics of both the jute and aloe fibers (yarn and
fabric) such as the apparent and true fiber density,
linear density, warp count, weft count, fabric weight,
fabric thickness, apparent yarn diameter, crimp
percentage (warp and weft), yarn Young’s modulus,
tensile strength, moisture content, ultimate fiber cell
diameter, and air permeability have been found
through their respective testing instruments, which are
further used to evaluate the volumetric composition of
the composite and elastic constants of the composite
structure.
True density and porosity of fiber. The true density of the
jute and aloe fibers is found using the automatic
Helium gas pycnometer (Micromeritics AccuPyc
1457
1340), under the operating conditions with the purge
pressure of 0.1345 MPa and equilibrium rate of
0.1014 MPa/min. The final true density reading is an
average of 5 systematic readings from 10 purges and
runs. The envelope density is calculated from the meas-
urement of envelope volume. The envelope volume is
the imaginary boundary surrounding the fiber sample,
which is obtained by tightly shrinking a film to contain
the fiber sample. The porosity of fiber is calculated
using the envelope density and true density.
Tensile testing of single-strand yarn. The tensile characteris-
tics of the alkali treated jute and aloe yarns are deter-
mined by conducting the tensile test using Instron 5567
machine according to ASTM D2256 on single-strand
yarn. Both jute and aloe yarns are the warp yarns
removed from the fabric. The span and the clamp
lengths used for testing are 100 mm and 50 mm on
both sides, respectively. The cross-head speed of
1.3 mm/min, 25 C temperature and 65  5% RH are
the operating conditions used for the testing. The true
diameter of the warp yarn, determined with the help of
true density, and linear density of warp yarn are used to
calculate the cross-sectional area which is assumed as
circular. To avoid the influence of crimp on the yarn, a
preload is applied on the clamped yarn while testing.
The tensile test is conducted on 20 samples of each jute
and aloe fiber yarns and the average readings are taken.
Mechanical characterization of composites
Tensile characteristics. The specimens are cut from the
fabricated composite plate according to the required
dimensions of ASTM D3039. The specimen dimensions
are 250 mm  25 mm  2.5 mm. The five samples are cut
along the longitudinal and transverse directions of the
laminated composite plate. The tensile tests on both the
WJFRP and WAFRP composite samples are con-
ducted using Instron 8801 under the operating condi-
tions with the cross-head speed of 2 mm/min and
temperature of 25 C. Poisson’s ratios of WJFRP and
WAFRP composites are calculated by measuring the
longitudinal and lateral strains of the specimen during
the tensile test using the strain gauge and fast data
logger. The strain gauges are carefully fixed along the
longitudinal and lateral directions of the specimen. The
strain gauge fixed has a gauge length of 5 mm with the
gauge resistance of 120  0.5 . Both the longitudinal
and lateral strains of the specimen are measured by using
the fast data logger during the tensile test and these
strain values are further used to calculate Poisson’s
ratio. Two samples of both the WJFRP and WAFRP
composites are used in the estimation of Poisson’s ratio.
The WJFRP and WAFRP composite samples fixed with
strain gauges are shown in Figure 6. The tensile
1458
Figure 6. WJFRP and WAFRP composite samples fixed with
strain gauge.
characteristics such as Young’s modulus and ultimate
tensile strength in warp and weft directions and
Poisson’s ratio of both composites are found out from
this test.
Flexural characteristics. The flexural testing of WJFRP
and WAFRP composite samples are conducted using
Instron 8801 machine. The laminated composite plates
are fabricated and cut to the required dimensions as per
the ASTM D790. The specimen dimensions are fina-
lized according to the length/thickness (L/d) ratio of
32:1 to get the flexural modulus as the apparent tensile
modulus. Like tensile test, five samples are cut along
the longitudinal and transverse directions of the com-
posite plate. The cross-head speed and the temperature
used are 2.2 mm/min and 25 C, respectively. The flex-
ural characteristics of composite such as flexural modu-
lus and ultimate flexural strength are found out.
Dynamic shear characteristics. Dynamic mechanical ther-
mal analysis under torsion mode is an efficient tech-
nique for the study of time, frequency, and
temperature-dependent shear characteristics of lami-
nated composite plates. The dynamic shear character-
istics of the WJFRP and WAFRP composites are
determined using the strain controlled rheometer
(MCR-301) under torsion mode equipped with stand-
ard rectangular fixture for rectangular bars. The speci-
mens are prepared according to the standard ASTM
D5279. The span length of less than 50 mm, clamp
length of 7 mm on each side and the thickness of less
than 3 mm are used as specimen dimensions. Each
sample is clamped in a rectangular fixture in an environ-
mental chamber where the temperature is varied from
20 C to 200 C at the heating rate of 2 C/min. An axial
force of 1 N is applied to hold the sample under tension
and then the harmonic twist angle with the shear strain
amplitude of 0.01% and frequency of 1 Hz is superim-
posed on it and the measurements are recorded. The
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)
expected output such as the in-plane shear modulus in
terms of storage modulus and loss modulus and the loss
factor are estimated from those measurements. Three
samples on each WJFRP and WAFRP composite are
tested for checking the accuracy and repeatability.
Theoretical modeling
Volumetric interaction
In this model, experimentally measured true density,
fiber-correlated porosity, and the calculated structural
porosity are considered in the estimation of absolute
volume fraction of its constituents.15,16 The absolute
volume of the composite generally considered for the
plant fiber-reinforced composites is
vc ¼ vf þ vm þ vp ð1Þ
where the vf , vm , and vp are the absolute volumes of
fiber, matrix, and porosity, respectively. The absolute
volumes of fiber and matrix are calculated using the
true density of fiber and density of matrix, respectively.
For calculation of the absolute porosity in the compos-
ite, three types of porosity are considered viz. fiber-cor-
related porosity, matrix porosity, and structural
porosity. Fiber porosity, interface porosity, and
impregnation porosity are considered in the fiber-cor-
related porosity.
vp ¼ vpf þ vpm þ vps ¼ pf vf þ pm vm þ vps ð2Þ
pf ¼ pf ð1Þ þ pf ð2Þ þ pf ð3Þ ð3Þ
Vpfiber
pf ð1Þ ¼ ð4Þ
1  Vpfiber
Vpmatrix
pm ¼ ð5Þ
1  Vpmatrix
vp vpf þ vpm þ vps
Vp ¼ ¼ ð6Þ
vc min vc min
Vp ¼ Vpfiber þ Vpmatrix þ Vps ð7Þ
where the vpf , vpm , and vps are the absolute volumes of
fiber-correlated porosity, matrix porosity, and struc-
tural porosity, respectively, and the pf ð1Þ , pf ð2Þ , and
pf ð3Þ are the fiber porosity constants, interface porosity
constants, and impregnation porosity constants,
respectively, and the pf and pm are the fiber-correlated
porosity constants and matrix porosity constants,
respectively. Vpfiber , Vpmatrix , and Vps are the volume
fractions of fiber porosity, matrix porosity, and struc-
tural porosity, respectively. In this study, only the fiber
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan 1459

and structural porosities are considered. Vf , Vm , and Vp
are the volume fractions of fiber, matrix, and porosity
of composite, respectively.
Combined model of Halpin–Tsai equations and laminate ana-
logy model. Halpin–Tsai equations are generally used in
the evaluation of elastic constants of unidirectional
fiber-reinforced composites and it shows good predic-
tion for low fiber volume fractions for short FRP com-
posites. While dealing with plant fibers, inclusion of
mechanical anisotropy is a must. The laminate analogy
approach is usually used to calculate the elastic behav-
ior of woven fabric-reinforced composites. In this
approach, single woven fabric or cloth layer is con-
sidered as a two unidirectional layer viz. one warp uni-
directional layer oriented at 0 and one weft
unidirectional layer oriented at 90 . Hence the laminate
analogy approach is combined with Halpin–Tsai equa-
tion along with the inclusion of porosity correction
factor to develop a new model to evaluate the material
constants of woven natural fabric-reinforced compos-
ites. Halpin-Tsai equation for unidirectional fiber-rein-
forced composites,37,38
 
1 þ Vf
M ¼ Mm ð1  Vp Þn
1  Vf
where n is the porosity efficiency exponent which is
normally taken as 2.
notations used for evaluating the various moduli of
unidirectional PFRP composite using equations (8)
and (9).
Poisson’s ratio of unidirectional fiber-reinforced
composites are estimated using the well-established
relationship namely the Voigt rule-of mixtures
12u ¼ 12f Vf þ m Vm ð10Þ
where 12f and m are the longitudinal or major
Poisson’s ratio of fiber and Poisson’s ratio of matrix,
respectively.
As the jute and aloe fabrics have the fibers of the
same kind in both warp and weft directions, the balan-
cing coefficient along the direction are calculated using
equation (11)
nwp Twp
k¼ ð11Þ
nwp Twp þ nwf Twf
where nwp and nwf are the number of threads in warp
and weft directions, respectively, and Twp and Twf are
the linear densities of warp and weft yarns,
ð8Þ respectively.39
The laminate analogy approach provides equations
(12) to (17) for the evaluation of elastic constants of
woven natural fabric composites.39

ðMf =Mm Þ  1 E1 ¼ ð1  Þu ½kE1u þ ð1  kÞE2u  ð12Þ

¼ ð9Þ
ðMf =Mm Þ þ 
E2 ¼ ð1  Þu ½kE2u þ ð1  kÞE1u  ð13Þ
where  is an empirical parameter which is given in 1
Table 1. In this model, the parameter  is used to fit 12 ¼ 12u ð14Þ
k þ ð1  kÞðE1u =E2u Þ
the experimental data, which depends on the geometry
and packing arrangement of the reinforcement. If the G12 ¼ G12u ð15Þ
value of  increases, the influence of fiber also increases
on composite behaviors. In equations (8) and (9), M
where
denotes the various elastic constants of unidirectional
PFRP composite and M with subscripts f and m
denotes the various elastic constants of fiber and 1
u ¼ ð16Þ
matrix, respectively. Table 1 also presents the different 1  ðE2u =E1u Þ212u

Table 1. Halpin–Tsai parameters.37,38

Fiber Matrix
Composite property, M properties, Mf properties, Mm 
L
Longitudinal modulus of unidirectional PFRP composites, E1u E1f Em 2 Dff
Transverse modulus of unidirectional PFRP composites, E2u E2f Em 2
Longitudinal shear modulus of unidirectional PFRP composites, G12u G12f Gm 1
Note: Lf and Df are the mean ultimate fiber length and mean ultimate fiber diameter or width, respectively.
1460 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)

212u of jute and aloe fibers are measured using Field

¼ ð17Þ
½kðE1u =E2u Þ þ 1  k½k þ ð1  kÞðE1u =E2u Þ Emission Scanning Electron Microscope and the
values for both the jute and aloe fibers found are
E1 , E2 , 12 , and G12 are the longitudinal young’s within the range given in the literatures. Other charac-
modulus, transverse young’s modulus, in-plane teristics which are given in Tables 2 and 3 such as fabric
Poisson ratio, and in-plane shear modulus, respect- tensile characteristics, fabric crimp, fabric thickness,
ively, of the bidirectional fabric-reinforced moisture content, and air permeability help in identify-
composites. ing the reinforcement’s own characteristics and its influ-
The material constants of transversely isotropic ences on the mechanical behavior of composites. The
plant fibers such as E1f , E2f , 12f , and G12f are back Young’s modulus of both jute and aloe yarn shown in
calculated using this combined model with the help of Table 3 clearly depicts the reduction in their values on
experimentally measured composite properties such as comparison with fiber Young’s modulus are mainly due
E1 , E2 , 12 , and G12 . These fiber properties are then to the influence of various factors such as load transfer
used to evaluate the material constants of tapered lami- between the short-fiber filaments inside the yarn, twist-
nated WJFRP and WAFRP composites. MATLAB ing effect, packing fraction, twisting angle, and micro-
coding is developed to evaluate the volumetric compos- fibril angle of a single fiber.
itions of composite and elastic constants of the fiber
and tapered laminated composite under the influence True density and porosity of fiber. Some studies, through
of porosity using equations (1) to (17). their fiber morphological investigations, reported that
the leaf fibers have more porosity content than that of
bast fibers.40 This is due to the presence of large
Results and discussions number microtubules along the fiber direction and air
cavities in the leaf fibers. In the Helium gas pycnometry
Fiber characterization method, the gas penetrates easily and fills all the open
The physical and mechanical characteristics of jute and
aloe fibers (yarn and fabric) are shown in Tables 2 and
3, respectively. Fabric weight, true yarn density, ultim- Table 3. Mechanical properties of jute and aloe fibers.
ate fiber cell diameter, apparent yarn density, yarn
Fiber characteristics Jute Aloe
linear density, warp ends, and weft picks per centi-
meters of fabric, and yarn tensile characteristics are Fabric tensile strength
the most preliminary yarn characteristics which are dir- Warp
ectly used in relations for identifying the elastic con- Breaking load or strength, (N) 710.20 521.32
stants of composites. The ultimate fiber cell diameter Elongation % 4.52 11.94
Weft
Breaking load or strength, (N) 490.92 395.012
Elongation % 5.74 18.78
Table 2. Physical properties of jute and aloe fibers. Young’s modulus of yarn (GPa) 3.72 3.91
Fiber characteristics Jute Aloe

Ultimate fiber cell diameter (mm) 10–25 8–24

Warp ends/cm, nwp 6.43 6.5
Weft picks/cm, nwf 5.1 5.5
Fabric thickness (mm) 0.71 1.26
Fabric weight g/m2 264.1 341.1
Yarn count/ fineness/linear density
Warp (tex ¼ g/1000 m) 226.923 236
Weft (tex ¼ g/1000 m) 184.375 184.375
Crimp
Warp % 2.4 2
Weft % 4 4.4
Air permeability (cm3/cm2/s) 245 208
Moisture content % 9.68 8.98
Note: Other physical characteristics such as density and porosity of fiber
are given in Table 4 for clarity in discussion. Figure 7. True and apparent densities of fiber.
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan 1461

and closed pores of the fibers under the application of composites precisely, the right approach is to use the
pressure. This helps in estimating the absolute volume fiber porosity caused by lumen alone as fiber porosity.
of pores which are not possible through any other con- Also it is well known that there are six or more ultimate
ventional density measurement techniques. Hence the fiber cells bonded together in a single fiber strand and
true density value measured in this work is very accur- each ultimate fiber cell has its individual lumen. Hence
ate and also found that the results are repeatable. neglecting the fiber porosity, especially the porosity
Figure 7 shows the comparative graph among the formed by lumen, leads the inaccurate estimation of
true density (measured), apparent density (measured elastic constants. The apparent porosity excluding
through conventional techniques), and apparent dens- lumen and apparent porosity including lumen of jute
ity (literature) of both fibers. and aloe fibers are taken from the literatures (given in
The measured true density and the envelopment Table 4).41–43 By using the apparent porosity (excluding
density are used in estimation of the porosity content lumen) available in the literature and the porosity mea-
of jute and aloe fiber. From the measured porosity con- sured using Helium gas pycnometer, the approximate
tent of both fibers it is clear that the aloe fiber has more fiber porosity content (lumen) is calculated which is
porosity than jute fiber which is in accordance with given in equation (18). This approximate fiber porosity
literatures.41 The high content of porosity in jute and is taken as a volume fraction of porosity in fiber (Vpfiber )
aloe fibers led their absolute volumes lower which in which is further used in this work for the calculation of
turn increases the true density of both jute and aloe volumetric composition and elastic constants of
fibers when compared to the density measured using composites.
other techniques. Table 4 shows the density, porosity,
and other calculated characteristics of jute and aloe Approximate fiber porosity
fiber. ¼ Porosity measured ð18Þ
The measured fiber porosity content includes the
 apparent porosityðexcluding lumenÞ
porosity content of open voids (external pores) and
closed longitudinal void known as lumen (porosity).
Due to resin impregnation of fiber inside the yarn, it The apparent fiber porosity (including lumen) avail-
is believed that the open voids are occupied by resin able in the literature and porosity measured using
and eliminates the external porosity, but the porosity Helium gas pycnometer are in good agreement for the
caused by lumen (closed void) is not disturbed at any jute fiber. Hence for the calculation of approximate
cost. Hence, to estimate the volumetric composition of fiber porosity, measured porosity is used for both jute
and aloe fibers. The porosity caused by lumen in the
total fiber porosity is about 62.52% for jute fiber and
Table 4. Density, porosity and other significant calculated 56.05% for aloe fiber.
characteristics of jute and aloe fiber. On analyzing the warp count and weft count given in
Table 2, it is clear that woven fabric is unbalanced in
Fiber characteristics Jute Aloe
nature and hence the warp diameter is not same as weft
True densitya (kg/m3) 1669.1 1918 diameter in both fabrics. The apparent diameters of the
Apparent densitya (kg/m3) 1452.1 1398.6 jute and aloe yarns are measured using the Image
Apparent densityb (kg/m3) 1440 1470 Profiler. Both ends of the yarn are stretched slightly
Porositya (%) 40.086 47.862 to avoid the impact of crimp while measuring. The
Apparent porosity excluding lumenb (%) 14–15 21 measured yarn diameters are further used for indirect
Apparent Porosity including lumenb (%) 39.9 –
calculation of apparent yarn density and packing frac-
tion. Packing fraction is the ratio of apparent yarn
Apparent yarn diameterc
Warp (mm) 0.506 0.55
density to the true yarn density and it is an indication
of the air spaces enclosed by the fibers.
Weft (mm) 0.513 0.608
True yarn diameterc
Warp (mm) 0.416 0.396 Experimental evaluation of mechanical
Weft (mm) 0.375 0.350 characteristics of composites
Packing fractionc Tensile and flexural characteristics. As the woven jute fabric
Warp 0.676 0.572
and woven aloe fabric are unbalanced in nature, there is
Weft 0.520 0.380 a need to determine the tensile and flexural character-
a
Measured. istics in the longitudinal (warp) and transverse (weft)
b
Literature. direction of the WJFRP and WAFRP composites. Also
c
Calculated. it is well known fact that the tensile and flexural
1462 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)

Table 5. Tensile and flexural characterization.

Tensile characteristics Flexure characteristics

Young’s modulus Ultimate tensile Flexural modulus Ultimate flexural

(GPa) strength (MPa) (GPa) strength (MPa)
Type of Poisson’s
composites Warp Weft Warp Weft ratio Warp Weft Warp Weft

WJFRP 5.13 4.078 53.34 40.4 0.152 5.163 4.697 87.438 74.290
WAFRP 4.633 3.939 36.8 29 0.18 4.450 3.886 55.559 46.403

WJFRP: woven jute/epoxy; WAFRP: woven aloe/epoxy.

Figure 8. Dynamic shear characteristics of the WJFRP composites.

characteristics along the warp direction are better than
the weft direction. This is mainly due to the advantages
of warp yarn over the weft yarn viz. warp ends/cm are
more than weft picks/cm, warp count is finer than weft
count, warp yarns are more twisted than weft yarns,
warp yarns have more hairiness than weft yarns and
the warp crimp is lesser than the weft crimp. The tensile
and flexural characteristics and Poisson’s ratios of the
WJFRP and WAFRP composites are shown in Table 5.
From the experimental data presented in Table 5, it is
very clear that the tensile and flexural characteristics
along the warp direction of both types of composites
are better than weft direction. In the flexural testing, the
span length to thickness ratio followed is 32:1. It is
reported in many studies, that the increment in the
span length to thickness ratio made the flexural modu-
lus (apparent) moves toward the tensile modulus. While
studying the structural analysis of the laminated com-
posite plate structures, the flexural modulus (apparent)
provides better results than that of tensile modulus.
This is due to the bending effect are predominant in
nature than shear effect of these structures.
Dynamic shear characteristics. The expected output from
the strain-controlled dynamic shear analysis under tor-
sion mode such as in-plane shear modulus in terms of
storage modulus and loss modulus and the damping
factor are determined. The complex modulus (G12 ) is
of the complex form and is given in equation (19)
G012
G12 ¼ G12 þ iG012 , G ¼ ð19Þ
G12
where the G12 , G012 , and G are storage modulus, loss
modulus, and the damping factor, respectively. Instead
of using shear moduli in complex form, storage modu-
lus is alone used as in-plane shear modulus G12 to deter-
mine the fiber characteristics in this study. The storage
modulus, loss modulus, and the damping factor of
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan
Figure 9. Dynamic shear characteristics of the WAFRP composites.
Table 6. Dynamic shear characteristics at 30 C.
Type of Storage Loss Damping
composites modulus (GPa) modulus (GPa) factor
WJFRP 0.805 0.01235 0.015342
WAFRP 1.02 0.0156 0.0153
WJFRP: woven jute/epoxy; WAFRP: woven aloe/epoxy.
WJFRP and WAFRP composites are shown in Figures
8 and 9, respectively.
From Figures 8 and 9, it is observed that the storage
modulus of both jute- and aloe-reinforced composites
are decreasing, when the temperature is increasing. The
loss modulus and damping factor of WJFRP compos-
ites are in the incremental mode up to the temperature
of 101 C and 114 C, respectively, and starts decreasing
after 101 C and 114 C, respectively. In the case of
WAFRP composites the loss modulus and damping
factor are in the incremental mode up to the tempera-
ture of 94 C and 109 C, respectively, and starts
decreasing after 94 C and 109 C, respectively. The
maximum loss modulus and damping factor of
WJFRP composites are 0.0496 GPa at 101 C and 0.32
at 114 C, respectively, and in the case of WAFRP com-
posites 0.0858 GPa at 94 C and 0.406 at 109 C, respect-
ively. In this study, shear modulus (storage modulus) at
the temperature of 30 C is used in the theoretical mod-
eling to back calculate the shear modulus of both the
jute and aloe fibers. The storage modulus, loss modu-
lus, and the damping factor of both the WJFRP and
1463
WAFRP composites at the temperature of 30 C are
shown in Table 6.
Theoretical evaluation of elastic constants of fiber
and tapered composite
Volumetric interaction. The weight of composite (wc),
fabric weight, true density of fiber and matrix,
number of fabric layers and its dimensions, porosity
related to fiber, matrix, and structure are used in esti-
mation of the volumetric composition of uniform com-
posite plate and its constituents. The weight of the
PFRP composite cannot be determined theoretically
as the resin flow cannot be controllable during the fab-
rication. The amount of resin used cannot be found
easily, because the excess resin is absorbed by the
breather cloth largely during the fabrication using
vacuum bagging technique. Hence the volume of resin
used in fabrication can be found only through reverse
calculation by weighing the composite. The fabricated
composite plate is cut by using a circular saw machine
and its edges are polished by the fine grade emery
papers to attain the accurate dimensions and then the
plate is weighed.
The experimentally measured mechanical character-
istics of composite are taken as the material constants
of uniform composite plates by assuming the same
volume fractions of fiber/matrix in all plies. Hence the
experimentally measured material constants are not
applicable to tapered composite structures, due to
introduction of the resin pockets by ply drop off. To
evaluate the elastic constants of tapered composite
structures theoretically, there is a need to find all the
1464
elastic constants of anisotropic natural fibers first. The
elastic constants of epoxy resin are taken from the lit-
erature.44 The mean length of ultimate fiber cell (Lf )
and its mean diameter (Df ) of jute are taken from the
literature.45 In the case of aloe fiber, mean ultimate
fiber length (Lf ) and diameter (Df ) is taken from the
literature.46
Matrix viscosity, twisting of yarn, packing fraction,
condition of fabric (whether wet or dry before fabrica-
tion), local pressure gradient, and permeability in the
yarn are the key parameters that control the impregna-
tion of fiber with the matrix. Other fiber-correlated por-
osities, such as impregnation porosity and interface
porosity are assumed to be negligible. The assumption
taken for impregnation porosity is made based on the
principle viz. stacking of all layers (fiber and matrix) are
done in a short time, i.e. within the gel time of epoxy
(20–25 min) during the fabrication, enough resins on
each fabric layers are applied, pressure created due to
resin’s own weight on fabric, external pressure applied
by running the vacuum pump and maintaining the
uncured laminate for a long period in vacuum environ-
ment ensure that all the fibers in the yarn are impreg-
nated completely. When compared to synthetic fibers,
natural fibers are mostly hydrophilic in nature, so the
adhesion between the hydrophobic polymers and
hydrophilic fibers are insufficient which results in
debonding of fiber and matrix. This fiber/matrix
debond will be treated as a kind of porosity in PFRP
composite called interface porosity. The formation of
interface porosity is restricted and assumed to be neg-
ligible because the alkali treatment on plant fibers helps
in the improvement of the bonding characteristics of
fiber and matrix.
While checking the fabricated plates, it is found that
the pores are formed on the external surfaces of the
plate mainly on the matrix dominated regions. This
kind of porosity is treated as structural porosity in
this study. During the fabrication process, to remove
the excess resin applied and to control the volume frac-
tion of matrix, double layered breather cloth is used.
While the vacuum pump absorbs the resin through the
porous release film, there is a possibility of formation of
pores. Also the formation of pores mainly depends on
the other parameters such as the type of weaving style,
yarn thickness, or diameter, yarn spacing, i.e. the gap
between adjacent warp or weft yarns and the type of
fabrication process. On comparison with synthetic
fabric, yarn thickness, and yarn spacing are more in
natural fabric.
The volume fraction of structural porosity of both
the WJFRP and WAFRP composites are calculated
with the help of experimentally measured apparent
density of composite. The apparent density of
WJFRP and WAFRP composites are calculated by
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)
weighing and determining the volume of WJFRP and
WAFRP composite samples, respectively. The calcu-
lated apparent density of WJFRP and WAFRP com-
posites are 1197.3 kg/m3 and 1227.1 kg/m3, respectively.
Then the true density of both the WJFRP and WAFRP
composites are calculated theoretically without consid-
eration of porosity. The calculated true density of both
the WJFRP and WAFRP composites are 1337.5 kg/m3
and 1338.6 kg/m3.
The calculated apparent density and true density
(with no porosity) of both the WJFRP and WAFRP
composites are further used in estimation of the poros-
ity of composite (Vp ) in each case. The porosities cal-
culated in the WJFRP and WAFRP composites are
10.5% and 8.3%, respectively. With the help of the
porosity content in the composite, the volume fraction
of structural porosity is calculated using equation (7).
The volume fraction of structural porosity of both the
WJFRP and WAFRP composites are 0.017 and 0.0183,
respectively.
The model parameters used in the theoretical mod-
eling to predict the material constants of jute and aloe
fibers are given in Table 7. In the listed model param-
eters, some of them are either calculated or experimen-
tally measured and some are taken from the literature.
MATLAB coding is developed to evaluate the volumet-
ric composition of its constituents and back calculated
the elastic constants of jute and aloe fibers using
the proposed model by substitution of this model
parameters.
The fabric thickness of both reinforcements (Jute
and Aloe) plays a major role in adopting the volume
fractions of the composite constituents. Higher fabric
thickness tends to take large quantity of resin to fill the
resin into the yarn spacing and air spaces inside the
yarn. Also the inherent nature of natural fiber tends
to take more resin to saturate the dry fiber and fill
the open pores in each single fiber of yarn. Due to the
fabrication technique adopted in this work, the
ply thickness is lower than that of fabric thickness
in both (Jute and Aloe) fibers reinforcement. The
lowering in the ply thickness confirms the good
impregnation of resin and eliminates the air spaces in
yarn. Even though the ply thickness is reduced, the
inherent nature of woven natural fabric and its thick-
ness provide the high volume fractions of matrix in the
composites.
The fabric thickness of aloe is almost twice than that
of jute. This leads the volume fraction of matrix in the
WAFRP composite is more than that of WJFRP com-
posite. Also the volume fraction of porosity, which
depends on the fiber porosity, fabric thickness and the
fabrication method adopted, in the WAFRP is more
than that of WJFRP. Due to low fiber volume fractions
in the WAFRP composite than WJFRP composite,
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan 1465

Table 7. Model parameters.

Types of composites

WJFRP WAFRP

Model parameters Measured Literature Calculated Measured Literature Calculated

f (kg/m3) 1669.1 – – 1918 – –

m (kg/m3) – 1200 – – 1200 –
Weight of composite (kg) 0.345 – – 0.593 – –
Wf – – 0.366 – – 0.277
Wm – – 0.634 – – 0.724
k – – 0.608 – – 0.602
Vpfiber – – 0.251 – – 0.269
Vps – – 0.017 – – 0.0183
Vf – – 0.262 – – 0.177
Vm – – 0.633 – – 0.740
Vp – – 0.105 – – 0.083
C (kg/m3) 1197.3 – – – – 1227.1
Thickness of ply tp(m) 6.781e04 – 5.396e04 1.040e03 – 9.216e04
Lf (m) – 0.0025 – – 0.003 –
Df (mm) – 20 – – 21 –
n 2 2
E1 (GPa) 5.13 – – 4.633 – –
E2 (GPa) 4.078 – – 3.939 – –
12 0.152 – – 0.18 – –
G12 (GPa) 0.805 – – 1.02 – –
WJFRP: woven jute/epoxy; WAFRP: woven aloe/epoxy.

the mechanical characteristics of WAFRP composite Table 8. Elastic constants of the jute and aloe fibers.
such as tensile and flexure characteristics are lower
Jute Aloe
when compared to the WJFRP composite. But the Elastic
shear characteristics of WAFRP composite are finer constants Vp ¼ 0 Vp ¼ 0:105 Vp ¼ 0 Vp ¼ 0:083
than that of WJFRP composite. This is because the
shear characteristics of matrix are better than that of E1f (GPa) 15.683 23.949 16.578 24.373
natural fiber. E2f (GPa) 0.014 0.978 0.092 1.577
G12f (GPa) 0.119 0.411 0.254 0.791
Elastic properties of the jute and aloe fibers. All the param- 12f 0.258 0.374 0.166 0.295
eters given in Table 7, including the elastic constants of 21f 0.0002 0.015 0.001 0.019
composites such as E1 , E2 , 12 , and G12 are used in the
proposed model. Equations (8) to (17) are solved to
find the unknown elastic constants such as E1f , E2f , results presented clearly depicts the loss associated if
G12f , and 12f of the jute and aloe fibers using the devel- the porosity is not considered.
oped MATLAB code. The transverse or minor
Poisson’s ratio of the fiber (21f ) can be easily calculated Proposed model validation. The effectiveness of the pro-
via equation (20) posed model is validated by comparing the elastic con-
stants of jute fiber obtained theoretically with the
21f ¼ 12f ðE2f =E1f Þ ð20Þ reported literature values. The details regarding the
proposed model validation with the elastic constants
The back calculated elastic constants of jute and aloe of jute fiber is shown in Table 9.
fibers with and without the inclusion of porosity con- Table 9 clearly depicts that the longitudinal moduli,
sidered in this work are shown in Table 8 and the in-plane shear moduli and Poisson’s ratio of jute fiber
obtained from the proposed model are in good
1466 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 36(19)

Table 9. Proposed model validation.

Present model
Elastic constants results Literature values

E1f (GPa) 23.949 13–26.5b, 3–55c, 26.5d

E2f (GPa) 0.978 0.077  0.0081c
G12f (GPa) 0.411 0.42c
12f 0.374 0.38e, 0.11a
21f 0.015
Fiber anisotropy, 0.041 0.14a
E2f =E1f
Figure 11. Major and minor Poisson’s ratio of jute and aloe
29
a, b, c, d and e represent Cichocki and Thomason, Mohanty et al., 47 fiber.
Lewin M and Pearce,48 Pickering,49 and Ramakrishnan et al.,50 respect-
ively, where the data were obtained.

Table 10. Elastic constants of WJFRP composites neglecting

fiber anisotropy.

Theoretical results

With
Elastic Experimental Without porosity,
constants results porosity Vp ¼ 0:105

E1 (GPa) 5.13 8.054 6.043

E2 (GPa) 4.070 7.314 5.504
12 0.152 0.264 0.238
G12 (GPa) 0.805 0.976 0.808
21 0.121a 0.240 0.217
Figure 10. Tensile and shear modulus of jute and aloe fiber.
a
Calculated using other experimentally measured elastic constants.

agreement with the reported literature values. The ratio
of fiber anisotropy (E2f =E1f ) for jute and aloe fibers are
0.041 and 0.065, respectively. The jute fiber exhibits
large anisotropy than that of aloe. These kinds of
large anisotropy provide better results in a direction
parallel to an applied uniaxial stress. It is found that
though there is variation in fiber’s longitudinal and
transverse moduli, the fiber anisotropy of jute are in
good agreement with the literature values. As the vari-
ations in natural fiber properties are common, the elas-
tic constants of jute fiber evaluated through the
proposed model yield best possible fiber properties,
i.e. fiber properties variation within the range men-
tioned in the reported literature. It is hereby confirmed
that the proposed model provides better results and
hence its effectiveness. The elastic anisotropy of aloe
fiber is not yet determined as per the authors reported
literature survey, and hence the results evaluated
through this proposed model are believed to be the
best possible elastic constants of aloe fiber.
The volume fractions of porosity Vp , in both the
WJFRP and WAFRP composites, are 10.5% and
8.3%, respectively, and this much quantity of porosity
is not to be neglected. If the volume fraction of porosity
is neglected, i.e. Vp ¼ 0, the variations in fiber elastic
constants are very much high which is shown in
Table 8. The longitudinal modulus, transverse modu-
lus, longitudinal shear modulus of jute, and aloe fibers
obtained theoretically are shown in Figure 10 and the
major and minor Poisson’s ratios of jute and aloe fibers
obtained theoretically are shown in Figure 11. When
comparing the elastic constants of both jute and aloe
fibers obtained theoretically using the proposed model,
most of the elastic constants of aloe fiber are better than
that of jute fiber.
If the fiber anisotropy is not considered, then the
elastic constants of jute fiber such as EðE1f ¼ E2f Þ,G
and  are taken as 23.949 GPa (theoretically obtained
longitudinal modulus, E1f ), 0.42 GPa (literature), and
0.38 (literature), respectively. When the fiber anisotropy
is ignored, the theoretically obtained results overesti-
mate the elastic constants obtained from experiments.
Table 10 shows the predicted elastic constants of
WJFRP composites neglecting fiber anisotropy.
Hence the proposed model will exhibit better results
only when considering the fiber anisotropy, porosity,
Suthenthiraveerappa and Gopalan 1467

Table 11. Volumetric interaction of tapered laminated used in tapered composite fabrication through the
WJFRP and WAFRP composites. hand layup technique, the fabrics occupy the resin
pocket region. The taper formation in the laminated
Type of composite
composite, with woven natural fabric having high
Parameters WJFRP WAFRP thickness, can be achieved by using large number of
woven fabric layers.
Weight of composite (kg) 0.260 0.354
The back calculated elastic constants of jute and aloe
Wf 0.304 0.290 fibers are further used to evaluate the elastic constants
Wm 0.696 0.710 of tapered laminated WJFRP and WAFRP composites
Vf 0.217 0.186 using the proposed model. The evaluated elastic
Vm 0.693 0.728 constants of tapered laminated WJFRP and WAFRP
Vp 0.090 0.086 composites using the proposed model are shown in
C (kg/m3) 1194.2 1229.5 Table 12.
The elastic constants of both the tapered laminated
WJFRP: woven jute/epoxy; WAFRP: woven aloe/epoxy.
WJFRP and WAFRP composites are decreased when
compared to the uniform laminated WJFRP and
WAFRP composites. This is due to the inclusion of
resin pockets, which reduce the volume fractions of
Table 12. Elastic constants of tapered laminated
WJFRP and WAFRP composites.
fiber and enlarge the matrix space in both composites.
But the tapered laminated composite has its own struc-
Elastic constants WJFRP WAFRP tural beneficial characteristics.
E1 (GPa) 4.879 4.686
E2 (GPa) 3.972 3.963 Conclusions
G12 (GPa) 0.873 1.008
In this work, mechanical characteristics of WJFRP and
12 0.169 0.176 WAFRP composites are evaluated especially the elastic
21 0.138 0.149 constants such as E1 , E2 , 12 , and G12 . The volumetric
WJFRP: woven jute/epoxy; WAFRP: woven aloe/epoxy. compositions have been evaluated by the consideration
of true density of fiber and the various porosity con-
tents associated with the PFRP composites. The com-
bined model of Halpin–Tsai and laminate analogy
and other parameters which influence the PFRP approach is developed in this work for the theoretical
composites. evaluation of woven natural fabric-reinforced compos-
ites with the inclusion of porosity correction factor and
Volumetric interaction and elastic constants of tapered lami- elastic anisotropy of fiber. With the proposed model,
nated composites. The weight of thickness tapered lami- elastic constants of jute and aloe fibers are back calcu-
nated composite plates of both jute and aloe fibers- lated using the experimentally measured material con-
reinforced composites are measured. The total fiber stants of composites. The effectiveness of the proposed
weight used in the tapered composite are calculated model is validated by comparing the results evaluated
by using the areal density of fiber, and the cross-sec- using the proposed model with those presented in the
tional area of fabric used in each layer. The weight of available literature for jute fiber. Hence it is believed
matrix and the weight fractions of fiber and matrix are that elastic constants of aloe fiber determined through
then calculated. The volume fractions of fiber, matrix, the proposed model hold good. Also the thickness
and porosity are calculated by using the other common tapered laminated composites are fabricated with the
model parameters mentioned in Table 7. The volumet- woven jute and aloe fabrics as reinforcements. Finally,
ric interaction of tapered laminated composite plates is the elastic constants of tapered laminated WJFRP and
shown in Table 11. WAFRP composites are determined. Some of the sig-
As expected, the volume fractions of matrix is high nificant conclusions arrived from this work are listed:
in the tapered WJFRP composite in comparison with
uniform WJFRP composite due to the introduction of 1. The inclusions of true density of fiber and various
resin pockets. In the case of tapered WAFRP compos- porosity contents provide exact volumetric
ite, the volume fractions of matrix are less when com- compositions.
pared to the uniform WAFRP composite. This is due to 2. The aloe and jute fibers, investigated in this study,
the impact of woven aloe fabric having high thickness exhibit a significant elastic anisotropy.
than jute fabric. When the woven aloe fiber fabric is
1468
3. Volume fraction of porosity has a predominant
effect in determining the elastic constants of fiber
and composites.
4. Ignoring the natural fiber anisotropy and using only
the axial modulus of natural fibers in evaluating the
elastic constants of composite will significantly over-
estimate the elastic constants.
5. The proposed model yields a good prediction of elas-
tic constants of the tapered laminated composites.
6. The accuracy in the theoretical prediction of elastic
constants of uniform and tapered composites can be
obtained only by the consideration of fiber anisot-
ropy, true density and porosity in the present model.
7. Methodology adopted in this work for evaluating
the elastic constants of thickness tapered laminated
composites can be applied to any woven natural
fabric reinforcement.
Acknowledgement
The authors are very grateful to the VIT University, Vellore,
India.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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