Mechanical properties of waste paper/jute fabric reinforced polyester resin matrix hybrid composites.

Hybrid composites were prepared with jute fabric and un-shredded newspaper in polyester resin matrix. The experiment was designed 1:2 weights ratio jute and unshredded newspaper to have 42 (w/w)% fibre content hybrid composites and two different sequences jute/paper/jute and paper/jute/paper of waste newspaper and jute fabric arrangement. Reinforcing material is characterized by chemically, X-ray diffraction methods, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and tensile testing. The tensile, flexural and interlaminar shear strength and fracture surface morphology of composites were evaluated and compared. It was found that tensile and flexural properties of the hybrid composite are higher than that of pure paper-based composite but less than pure woven jute composite. The hybridization effect of woven jute fabric and layering pattern effect on mechanical properties of newspaper/woven jute fabric hybrid composites were studied. The test results of composites were analyzed by one-way ANOVA (α=0.05), it showed significant differences among the groups.