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Microstructural Characterisation of Jute/Epoxy Quasi-Unidirectional Composites

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Abstract

The elastic properties of a composite can be predicted by micromechanical models based on the properties of the individual constituent materials of the composite and their geometrical characteristics. This paper presents a novel methodology using image analysis to determine (a) the fibre volume fraction and (b) the fibre orientation distribution factor of quasi-unidirectional jute fibre reinforced epoxy resin composites. For fibre volume fraction, digital micrographs were smoothed to reduce noise in the image, an intensity histogram informed selection of the threshold intensity for conversion to a binary image, the image was morphologically closed and opened to remove internal voids and small features respectively and the fibre volume fraction was calculated as the ratio of the detected fibre area to the total image area. For fibre orientation, the image was sharpened with Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalisation, a threshold was set for conversion to binary and then a masking image was rotated at a number of seed points over the image to find the angles with the minimum sum of intensity at each point. The data generated was then used to validate new rules-of-mixture equations for natural fibre composites.

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Acknowledgments

ASV is grateful to the University of Plymouth for a scholarship to pursue his doctorate. The authors would like to thank a former colleague Joe Ellison for obtaining the fibres from IJIRA/IJSG. This paper was presented at the 9th International Conference on Composite Science & Technology (ICCST-9), Sorrento – Italy, 24-26 April 2013 and at the 1st International Conference on Natural Fibers: sustainable materials for advanced applications (ICNF2013), Guimarães – Portugal, 09–11 June 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith School of Engineering, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Southport, Queensland, 4222, Australia

    Amandeep Singh Virk & Wayne Hall

  2. Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre, School of Marine Science and Engineering, Reynolds Building, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

    John Summerscales

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  1. Amandeep Singh Virk
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Correspondence to John Summerscales.

Appendices

Appendix A. Dyeing Jute Fibres [25]

Dry jute fibres were first weighed (75 g) and then soaked in water for 15 min. The dye pot was prepared by adding warm water (45 °C) in plastic container using water to fibre ratio of 30:1 by weight. The dye power was mixed with cold water to make a smooth paste, which was then diluted and completely dissolved in the dye bath. Ratio of 1:25 was used for dye powder weight (3 g) to fibre weight. The wetted jute fibres were added to the dye bath and stirred for 10 min. Glauber’s salt (sodium sulphate) was then added to the dye bath in 3 equal parts at 5 min intervals. The fibres were removed from the bath while adding Glauber’s salt to the bath to properly mix the salt in the bath. After mixing the salt the fibres were again immersed in the bath. The weight ratio of 1.1:1 was used for the Glauber’s salt (82.5 g) to fibre. Dye was fixed to the fibres by adding soda ash (sodium carbonate) to the dye bath 10% weight of soda (7.5 g) to fibre weight was used. The soda ash was dissolved in small quantity of warm water and then added to the dye bath (fibres were removed from the bath while soda ash solution was added). The fibres were left in the solution for 2 h and the solution was stirred occasionally. After that, fibres were rinsed in cold water and were dried for 12 h in warm air. While dyeing the fibres due care was taken to ensure minimum disturbance to the original fibre orientation.

Appendix B. Specimen Tensile Test Results

The specimen dimension, the tensile test results and the failure location for each specimen which failed within the gauge length are given in Table 9.

Table 9 Specimen tensile test results
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Appendix C. Micrograph Fibre Volume Fraction

The estimated fibre volume fractions for each micrograph for each specimen are given in Table 10.

Table 10 Micrograph fibre volume fraction
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Appendix D. Micrograph DOFARRA Parameters

The estimated DOFARRAs for each micrograph for each specimen are given in Table 11.

Table 11 Micrograph DOFARRA parameters
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Appendix E. Fibre Orientation Distribution Factor (FODF) Calculated from the DOFARRA Data

Fibre orientation distribution factor (FODF) calculated from DOFARRA is given in Table 12.

Table 12 Micrograph fibre orientation distribution factor (FODF)
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Virk, A.S., Hall, W. & Summerscales, J. Microstructural Characterisation of Jute/Epoxy Quasi-Unidirectional Composites. Appl Compos Mater 21, 885–903 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-014-9389-0

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