Water Absorbance and Rotting Property of Jute Fiber after CuSO 4 Treatment Sweety Shahinur 1 , Mahbub Hasan 2 , Qumrul Ahsan 3 and Shamina Jafrin 1 1 Senior Scientific Officer, Textile Physics Division, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka-1207. 2 Associate professor, Department of Material and Metallurgical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology, Dhaka-1000. 3 Professor, Department of Engineering Materials, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, University Teknikal Malaysia, Malaysia. 4 Senior Scientific Officer, Pilot Plant and Processing Division, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka-1207. Corresponding author: sweetybjri@yahoo.com Paper No. : 36 Received : 05 January 2015 Accepted : 07 June, 2015 Published : 30 July 2015 Abstract In time of increased concern for environment security and global warming, the value of natural fibers has significantly enhanced. Environmental consciousness is encouraging the scientific research for sustainable use of natural fiber for long time without rotting and microbial infection. As jute fiber is now widely used in the building materials, packaging materials as well as furnishing materials; our concern is to increase the longevity of the jute fiber in the respected fields. The present paper is aimed to study the effect of copper sulphate treatment on rotting and water absorbance properties of jute fiber. Copper sulphate treatment on the jute fiber at different concentration (4%, 8% and 20%) was conducted. Water absorption, contact angle and growth of micro-organism were tested in the department of Physics and Biochemistry of BJRI. After chemical treatment though mechanical properties of jute fibers degrade, the water absorption is improved and the micro-organism growth was negligible with chemical concentrations. The contact angle of water and treated jute fiber is decreased with the percentages of chemical concentrations. In conclusion, it can be said that the different percentages of the copper sulphate treated jute fiber have lower rotting properties as well as surface adhesion compared the raw jute fiber. Keywords: Jute fiber, copper sulphate, water absorption, contact angle, micro-organism. Jute is eco-friendly and it replenishes soil nutrients. Jute and jute products not only reserve the ecological degradation but also conserve environment and atmosphere as a whole. [1] Jute fibers have better physico-chemical and physico-mechanical properties which make them an attractive alternative to conventional materials. The materials made from jute and natural fiber have not been considered in the past because of their rotting, swelling and burning properties [2]. This paper has described new methods of natural jute fiber pre treatment that is surface modification, which has developed rot retardant fiber. Indian Journal of Natural Fibres v.2 n.1, p. 51-57. July 2015