Impregnation of thermoplastic resin in jute fiber mat

Abstract

Impregnation rate of thermoplastic resin (polypropylene) in jute fiber mat and influence of relative factors on impregnation were studied, aiming to develop the continuous melt impregnation technique and to investigate the effect of impregnation rate and temperature on processing conditions and mechanical properties of natural fiber mat-reinforced thermoplastics. Influence of pressure on porosity of fiber mat and effect of melt viscosity on impregnation rate were also investigated. The modified capillary rheometer was used as apparatus and experimental data were analyzed based on the one-dimension Darcy's law. Results showed that at a given pressure, the impregnation rate is inversely proportional to melt viscosity and jute fiber mat has higher porosity than glass fiber mat. The architecture, compressibility, permeability and fiber diameter of jute fiber mat were compared with those of glass fiber mat and their effects on impregnation were discussed further. It could be seen that the average diameter of jute fiber is much bigger; the porosity of jute fiber mat is significantly higher and inner bundle impregnation does not exist in jute fiber mat. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the impregnation rate in jute fiber mat is 3.5 times higher and permeability is 14 times greater. Kozeny constants of jute and glass fiber mats calculated based on the capillary model are 2950 and 442, respectively.

Permeability and mechanical properties of plant fiber reinforced hybrid composites

“…The correction factor (γ=1.839) is calculated by the ratio of [22] in different fiber volume fraction. The permeability of plant fabrics was much higher than that of glass fabrics which was also observed in other references [11,23,24]. The higher permeability of plant fibers was mainly caused by the multi-scaled structure of plant fiber itself which provided more resin flow channels such as the lumens, the intra yarn porosity, etc.…”

Enhancing Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Ramie Fiber via Impregnation by Lignin-Based Polyurethane Resin

“…Impregnation is an important method in composite manufacturing. Different types of natural fibers have been impregnated with polypropylene, polylactic acid, and aluminum hydroxide [36,37]. The use of lignin derived from black liquor as polyols in the synthesis of bio-PU represents a sustainable approach to reduce waste from the kraft pulping process.…”

Study of saturated and unsaturated permeability in natural fiber fabrics

“…This behavior is due to the swelling of the fibers exposed to the water-base solution that reduces the size of the open flow paths. Recently, Liu and Dai [13] studied the impregnation of a jute fiber mat by a thermoplastic resin. They found for natural fabrics permeabilities an order of magnitude higher than the obtained for glass fiber mat.…”