www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org COMPRESSIVE AND FLEXURAL STRENGTH IMPROVEMENT OF JUTE FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITE G. MUSALAIAH 1 , Y SHIREESHA 2 , P. KAMAL KUMAR 3 & P. SATYANARAYANA RAJU 4 1 Department of Mechanical engineering, Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Dundigal Hyderabad, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, GMR Institute of Technology, Rajam, Andhra Pradesh, India 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad, India 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Shamshabad, Hyderabad, India ABSTRACT Jute fibre reinforced composites, have replaced the most widely used synthetic fibre (glass) reinforced composites in many applications. In the present experimental endeavor, jute fibre-epoxy resin reinforced composites, were prepared using hand lay-up molding process. Jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites had better flexural strength, with transverse fiber distribution in the composites. Chemical characterization will remove impurities of material and increases mechanical properties of the composite. Composites based on jute fiber and epoxy resin, was fabricated by hand lay-up technique. The mechanical properties of the composites, such as compressive strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus were measured, in dependence of fiber content. The present work described, the mechanical properties and development of a new set of natural fiber based polymer composites, consisting of fiber as reinforcement with epoxy resin. KEYWORDS: Synthetic Fibre, Stem and Ribbon, Jute Fiber & Epoxy Resin Received: Jul 01, 2017; Accepted: Jul 20, 2017; Published: Jul 22, 2017; Paper Id.: IJMPERDAUG201724 INTRODUCTION The jute fiber comes from the stem and ribbon (outer skin) of the jute plant. The fibers are first extracted by retting. The retting process consists of, bundling jute stems together and immersing them in slow running water. There are two types of retting: stem and ribbon. After the retting process, stripping begins; women and children usually do this job. In the stripping process, non-fibrous matter is scraped off, and then the workers dig in and grab the fibers from within the jute stem. Jute is a rain-fed crop, with little need for fertilizer or pesticides, in contrast to cotton’s heavy requirements. Production is concentrated mostly in Bangladesh, as well as India’s states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal. India is the world’s largest producer of jute, but imported approximately 162,000 tonnes of raw fibre and 175,000 tonnes of jute products in 2011. India, Pakistan and China, imported significant quantities of jute fibre and products from Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Japan, United States, France, Spain, Ivory Coast, Germany and Brazil. Liu, Let.al., [1] poly (butylene succinate) (PBS)/ jute composites were prepared, and the effects of fibre content, diameter, surface modification and arrangement forms of the biodegradability were evaluated, by compost-soil burial test, Liu, L., et.al., [2] a bio-composite was originally fabricated and the effects of fibre surface modification on characteristics of jute fibre and mechanical properties of the bio composite were evaluated. Karmaker, A. C., et.al., [3] SYNOPSIS, Composites with polypropylene (PP) and jute fiber were prepared by Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN (P): 2249-6890; ISSN (E): 2249-8001 Vol. 7, Issue 4, Aug 2017, 235-240 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd