Materials Sciences and Applicatio ns, 2010, 1, 350-357
doi:10.4236/msa.2010.16051 Published Online December 2010 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/msa)
Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of
Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites:
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
Jahangir A. Khan1,2, Mubarak A. Khan1*, Rabiul Islam2, Abdul Gafur3
1Radiation and Polymer Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commis-
sion, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2Department of Chemistry, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 3PP &PDC, Bangladesh Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Received September 2nd, 2010; revised September 23rd, 2010; accepted October 6th, 2010.
ABSTRACT
Composites based on jute fabrics and polypropylene was fabricated by heat-press molding technique. The mechanical
properties of the composites such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, bending strength, bending modulus and impact
strength were measured in dependence of fiber contents. In order to improve fiber-matrix interactio n, jute fabrics were
treated with aqueous solutions of K2Cr2O7 (0.005-0.05% w/v). Composite prepared with 0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated jute
fabrics showed the highest values of the mechanical properties. Thermogravimetric (TG/DTG) data of PP, jute fabrics
and composites showed that thermal degradation temperatures of composites shifted to higher temperature regions
compared to PP or jute fabrics. Treatment of jute fab rics improved the thermal stab ility of the composite considerably.
Scanning electron microscopic images of tensile fractured sides of untreated and treated composites illustrated that
better fiber-matrix interfacial interaction occurred in treated composite. The relative tendency of water absorption of
both untreated and treated composites was also explored.
Keywords: Composites, Jute fabric, Polyprop ylene, Mechanical properties, Thermal properties
1. Introduction
Environment-friendly and cost effective composites have
recently been received considerable attention among the
scientists. The use of man-made fibers (such as, glass,
carbon) as reinforcements in composites is now critically
considered due to environmental concern though they
have possessed excellent mechanical and thermal proper-
ties, and durability. These properties make difficult to
carry out suitable disposal processing. For example, in-
cineration of discarding glass fiber based composite gen-
erates a lot of black smoke and bad odors and often cre-
ates damage to incinerator by fusion of glass fibers. Rec-
lamation processing generates also a large environmental
load; since synthetic fibers are not decomposed easily.
To avert this problem, the use of natural fibers based
composites is increasing continuously. Natural fibers
have some advantages over man-made fibers in that they
are cheap, highly available and renewable, with low den-
sity and high specific properties as well as they are bio-
degradable and less abrasive [1]. Natural fibers such as
jute, ramie, hemp, sisal, bamboo, banana, oil palm fibers
and so on are used as reinforcements in polymer matrix
composites. Among these fibers, jute is of particular in-
terest because, jute grows plenty in Bangladesh and
Eastern part of India and composites made of jute fibers
have moderate tensile and flexural properties compared
with other natural fibers. Being hydrophilic in nature,
like other natural fibers, jute fiber possesses poor adhe-
sion with hydrophobic polymer matrix [2]. So, pretreat-
ment of natural fibers or polymer matrices or both is
necessary for better fiber-matrix interface adhesion.
Many researchers are working on jute fibers based com-
posites to make better compatibility between fibers and
polymer matrices. Khan et al. [3] used silane and acrylic
monomers to improve the mechanical properties of jute-
Biopol composite. Delignification (bleaching) brought
better adhesion between fiber and polymer matrix [4].
Joseph and co-workers [5-6] observed that permanganate
treated sisal fiber reinforced low density polyethylene
(LDPE) composites showed an enhancement in tensile

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 351
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
properties due to the permanganate induced grafting.
Researchers [7-9] worked on jute fibers/polyolefin com-
posites and reported improved properties of the compos-
ites. Different chemical modifications including per-
manganate treatment on natural fibers for use in natural
fiber reinforced composites were reviewed by Xue Li et
al. [10] and they reported that mechanical properties of
the composites improved significantly. Oxidation of cel-
lulose with potassium dichromate-sulfuric acid, potas-
sium dichromate-oxalic acid, potassium permanganate,
sodium hypochlorite and periodate were performed by
different researchers [11-13].
The major constituent of jute fiber is cellulose which
contains one primary alcohol group at C-6 position of the
cellulose backbone and two secondary alcohol groups at
C-2 and C-3 positions. These alcohol groups are suscep-
tible to the action of oxidizing agents. The oxycelluloses
produced during oxidation of cellulose depend mainly on
the types and strengths of the oxidizing agents used. The
physical characteristics of cellulose materials also change
during oxidation. For example, periodates and nitrogen
dioxide oxidants attack crystalline as well as amorphous
regions of the cellulose. On the other hand, common
types of oxidizing agents (such as potassium dichromate,
chromic acid, potassium permanganate etc.) mainly react
into the amorphous portions and the surface of the crys-
tallites. As a consequence of oxidizing effects, cellulose
materials experience surface roughness and brittleness in
fibers [14].
The present research work deals with the treatment of
jute fabrics with aqueous potassium dichromate as oxidiz-
ing agent. Polypropylene is used as a matrix material. The
prime objective of this work is to study the effect of potas-
sium dichromate on the mechanical and thermal properties
of the composites. The investigation also involves in char-
acterizing the fiber-matrix interface by scanning electron
microscope. The relative water absorption tendency of the
untreated and treated composites has been studied.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Jute fabrics (Hessian cloth) were supplied by SADAT
Textile Industries Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh. Potassium
dichromate (K2Cr2O7) was received from Merck, Ger-
many and Polypropylene (PP) pellets (trade name: Cos-
moplene) from The Polyolefin Company (Singapore) Pte.
Ltd. The materials were used as received.
2.2. Surface Modification
Jute fabrics were soaked in different concentrated solu-
tions (0.005 to 0.05% w/v) of aqueous K2Cr2O7 for 2 min.
The soaked jute fabrics were intensively washed with
running tap water to remove the unbound oxidizing agent.
After soaking, jute fabrics were dried in an oven at
105˚C for 6 hrs and kept in a desiccator.
2.3. Composites Fabrication
PP sheets of desired size (15cm × 13cm) were prepared
by compressing PP pellets in the heat press (Carver, INC,
USA, model 3856). For composite fabrication, sandwich
was prepared using pre-weighed four layers jute fabrics
and five layers PP sheets. The prepared sandwich was
then compressed in the heat press at 190˚C for 5 min
under 5 tons pressure. After heat pressed, composites
were cooled to another press (Carver: model 4128) oper-
ated at cooling mode.
2.4. Mechanical Testing
The tensile and bending tests of the composites were
carried out by a universal testing machine (Hounsfield
H50KS) according to DIN 53455 and DIN 53452 stan-
dard methods, respectively. Impact strength (Charpy)
was carried out in an impact tester (MT-3016, Pendulum
type, Germany) following ASTM D 6110- 97. All the
results were taken as the average value of five samples.
2.5. Thermal Analysis
Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyzer
(TG/DTA 6300, USA) has been used to simultaneously
perform thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal
analytic measurement. The range of temperature was 30
to 600˚C. The system is run on a nitrogen environment.
The gas is purged at 100 ml/min. The rate of heating is
maintained at 20˚C/min.
2.6. Scanning Electron Microscopy
The non-conducting surface of the composites was
coated with gold in agar auto sputter coater (model 108A,
England) before subjected to Scanning Electron Micro-
scope (SEM). The fiber matrix adhesion of the tensile
fracture surface of the composites was examined by
Scanning Electron Microscope (model XL 30, Philips,
The Netherlands).
2.7. Water Uptake
Specimens of the composites (control and treated) were
immersed in the static water glass beaker at room tem-
perature for different time periods (up to 30 days). Be-
fore immersion, weight of the samples was taken. At
certain time intervals, samples were taken out from the
beaker and wiped smoothly with tissue paper and then
weighed immediately. Percent of water uptake was then
calculated using the following formula.

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 352
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
()
% 100%
fi
up i
WW
WW
−
=×
Where,
()
%
up
W = percent water uptake of the sample
i
W = weight of the sample before immersion in water
f
W = weight of the sample after immersion in water
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Effect of Fiber Content on the Mechanical
Properties of Composites
The fiber volume fraction influences the mechanical prop-
erties of the composites. Tensile (TS) and bending (BS)
strengths of the composites were measured as a function
of jute content and the results are shown in Figure 1. Jute
content in the composite varies from 28 to 52% w/v. It is
observed that TS and BS of the composites increase up
to 45% jute content after that strengths of the composites
decrease. The similar observation is also recorded for
tensile modulus (TM) and bending modulus (BM) of the
composites (Figure 2). The investigation reveals that 45%
jute content performs the best of mechanical properties.
The values of TS, BS, TM and BM were recorded as 52
MPa, 63 MPa, 1.03 GPa and 3.27 GPa respectively. The
highest values of mechanical properties exhibited by
45% fiber content composite may be explained in terms
of orientation and homogeneity of fibers within the ma-
trix. At this stage, fibers get maximum level of orienta-
tion and mixed homogeneously within the matrix. When
load is applied, stress is uniformly distributed among the
fibers. As a result, mechanical properties of the compo-
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Jute content (% w/w)
Tensile and bending strength (MPa)
TS BS
Figure 1. Effect of jute content on tensile and bending
strength of the composite.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
25 30 3540 45 50 55
Jute content
(
% w/w
)
Tensile and bending modulus (GPa)
TM BM
Figure 2. Effect of jute content on tensile and bending
modulus of the composite.
sites achieve maximum values. At low fiber content, poor
fiber population causes low load transfer capacity among
the fibers. As a result, accumulation of stress occurs at cer-
tain points of the composite and strains are also found
highly localized in the matrix [15]. This contributes poor
mechanical properties of the composites at low fiber con-
tent. Where as, at high level of jute contents, fibers get ag-
glomerated within the matrix which produces nonuniform
stress transfer capacity. Also, too many fiber ends promote
microcrack formation in the interface. As a result, strength
and modulus of the composite again decrease [15,16].
The effect of jute content on elongation at break (Eb)
of the composite is shown in Figure 3. It is found that Eb
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Jute content (% w/w)
Elongation at break (%)
Figure 3. Effect of jute content on elongation at break of the
composite.

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 353
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
of the composite decreases as the jute content increases.
At 28% jute content, Eb is 12.7% whereas at 52% jute
content Eb is decreased to 9.9%. It is generally believed
that elongation decreases with the increase of modulus of
the composites [17]. It is remarkable that, after 45% fiber
content, the value of Eb further reduces with the decrease
of modulus of the composite. It may be explained that jute
fiber has much lower value of Eb than that of PP matrix
and fiber volume fraction increases gradually after 45%
jute content. Furthermore, the formation of microcracks at
higher fiber content might have been responsible for the
reduction of Eb. So, at first, up to optimum fiber content,
modulus is likely to play the key role for the reduction of
Eb. Secondly, above the optimum level, decrease of Eb is
mainly guided by the higher fiber content.
3.2. Effect of K2Cr2O7 on the Mechanical
Properties of Composites
The effect of K2Cr2O7 on TS and BS of the composites is
presented in Figure 4. It is observed that TS and BS in-
crease up to 0.03% K2Cr2O7 treatment after that there is a
decrease in strengths over the control sample. The simi-
lar behavior is also recorded for TM of the treated sam-
ple. On the other hand, treated composite had higher
values of BM over the control sample for any concentra-
tion of the K2Cr2O7 solutions (Figure 5). It is also ob-
served that all the mechanical parameters of the treated
composite achieve the highest values for 0.02% K2Cr2O7
treatment over the other combinations. TS of the treated
composite (0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated jute fabric) increases
from 52 to 68 MPa which is 30.8% increment from that
of the control sample. BS increases from 63 to 77 MPa,
which shows 22.2 % enhancement. On the other hand,
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
00.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Concentration of
K
2
C
r
2
O
7
(% w/v)
Tensile and bending strength (MPa)
TS BS
Figure 4. Effect of potassium dichromate on tensile and
bending strength of the composite.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
00.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Concentration of K
2
Cr
2
O
7
(%w/v)
Tensile and bending modulus (GPa)
TM BM
Figure 5. Effect of potassium dichromate on tensile and
bending modulus of the composite.
TM and BM increase to 21.36% (from 1.03 to1.25 GPa)
and 37.31% (from 3.27 to 4.49 GPa) respectively from
that of the control composite. The effect of K2Cr2O7 on
impact strength (IS) of the composites is presented in
Figure 6. The value of IS moves from 19.10 kJ/m2 (for
control composite) to 23.5 kJ/m2 (0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated
composite). This value indicates 23.04% improvement
over the IS value of the control sample. Elongation at
break of the treated sample is depicted in Figure 7. It is
observed that with the increase in concentrations of
K2Cr2O7 solution, Eb decreases gradually. At 0.005%
and 0.05% K2Cr2O7 treatment Eb had the values of
9.45% and 6.1% respectively. The values were 11.85%
and 43.09% lower from that of the control sample. The
finding of this observation reveals that composite based
16
18
20
22
24
26
00.01 0.02 0.03
0.04 0.05
Concentration of
K
2
Cr
2
O
7
(% w/v)
Impact str en gth (kJ/ m
2
)
Figure 6. Effect of potassium dichromate on impact strength
of the composite.

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 354
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Concentration of
K
2
Cr
2
O
7
(% w/v)
Elongation at break (%)
Figure 7. Effect of potassium dichromate on elongation at
break of the composite.
on 0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated jute fabrics earns the highest
values of all the mechanical parameters over the other
combinations and also than that of the control composite.
The changes in mechanical properties of the compos-
ites upon treatment of jute fabrics with K2Cr2O7 may be
explained on the basis of oxidizing effect of K2Cr2O7 on
the cellulose materials. Jute fabrics may undergo chemi-
cal as well as physical changes upon the action of aque-
ous K2Cr2O7 solution. Depending on the strength of the
oxidizing agent, jute fabrics may experience surface
roughness and brittleness in fibers. At lower concentra-
tions of K2Cr2O7 solution (up to 0.02%), the oxidized
jute fabrics may experience surface roughness and a re-
duction in compactness of the fiber bundles, which en-
hance effective surface area available for contact with
the matrix. The additional sites of mechanical interlock-
ing promote more interpenetration between the fibers and
PP matrix. This might have caused improvement in the
mechanical properties of the treated composites. At
higher concentrations (such as 0.05%), K2Cr2O7 may pe-
netrate and attack into the amorphous regions of cellu-
lose and surfaces of the crystallites that may degrade the
fiberous materials [14]. This morphological change might
have caused agglomeration of fibers in the matrix or in-
homogeneous stress transfer when load is applied. As a
result, jute fabrics treated with higher concentrated solu-
tion of K2Cr2O7 impart poor performance in the me-
chanical properties of the composite.
3.3. Thermal Properties of PP, Treated and
Untreated Jute Fabrics
Thermogravimetric/Differential thermogravimetric (TG/
DTG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA) were
performed to study the thermal properties of PP and jute
fabrics (untreated and treated). Thermal investigations
were carried out only for 0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated jute
fabric since composite based on 0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated
jute fabrics had the best mechanical properties over the
other combinations. Figure 8 shows the different ther-
mograms of PP. From DTG thermogram it is observed
that a broad single peak starts around 371.6˚C with a
maximum degradation at 413.8˚C at the rate of 1.634
mg/min. This peak corresponds to the rupture of C−C
chain bonds along with H– abstraction at the site of rup-
ture [16,18]. PP is strongly hydrophobic (moisture ab-
sorption is 0%) in nature and completely depleted at
426.8˚C without formation of any char residue (TG
thermogram). The endothermic peak at 163.9˚C in DTA
thermogram is related to the melting temperature of PP.
The thermograms of jute fabrics (untreated and treated)
are depicted in Figure 9. DTG thermograms show that
decomposition of fabrics occurs as a three step process.
The first step process below 100˚C corresponds to the
loss of adsorbed water from the fabrics. The decomposi-
tion of hemicellulose of untreated and treated jute fabrics
may occur at 296˚C and 301.2˚C with the rate of 0.390
and 0.152 mg/min respectively in the second process
[16]. Weight loss at this stage is about 6 and 8% respec-
tively. The strong third peak observed at 365.0˚C (rate
1.781 mg/min) and 363.0˚C (rate 0.796 mg/min) for un-
treated and treated jute fabrics respectively may be at-
tributed to the decomposition of α-cellulose [16]. The
temperatures at 365.0˚C and 363.0˚C correspond to the
weight loss of about 60 and 66.2% respectively. It is also
mentionable that like the previous report [16], no de-
composition of lignin is observed here although, lignin
comprises around 13% of the jute fiber weight. Untreated
and treated jute fabrics produce 20.7 and 9.1% residues
Figure 8. Thermograms of PP.

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 355
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
Figure 9. Thermograms of (a) untreated jute fabric and (b)
0.02% potassium dichromate treated jute fabric. (Upper
part-TG, middle part-DTA and bottom part-DTG thermo-
gram).
at 377.8˚C and 374.9˚C respectively (TG thermogram).
The formation of char residues may involve initial physi-
cal desorption of water, intramolecular dehydration, for-
mation of carboxyl and carbon-carbon double bonds,
cleavage of glycosidic linkage and rupture of C–O and
C–C bonds and condensation and aromatization of carbon
atoms from each original pyranose ring to form discrete
graphite layers [16,19,20]. The investigation explores that
jute fabrics are less thermally stable compared to PP in
nitrogen environment. The similar observation was also
reported in the previous literature [16,19]. It is also ob-
served that treatment of jute fabrics with K2Cr2O7 does not
affect the thermal stability of jute fabrics remarkably.
3.4. Effect of K2Cr2O7 on Thermal Properties of
Composites
Composite based on 0.02% K2Cr2O7 treated jute fabrics
had the best mechanical properties over the other com-
binations, so thermal investigations were carried out only
for this treated composite. The thermograms of untreated
and treated composites are presented in Figure 10. TG
thermograms show that loss of adsorbed water for un-
treated and treated composites is 1.9 and 2.0% respec-
tively. It is thought that during processing or testing, wa-
ter could have been absorbed from the atmosphere if the
fibers were not fully wetted by the matrix in the compos-
ite [21]. The residues obtained for untreated and treated
composites are 9.4 and 10.1% at 438.6˚C and 463.2˚C
respectively (TG thermograms). The formation of char
residues has been discussed earlier. In composites, two
stage degradations occur: first stage is responsible for jute
fabric and second stage is for PP. The DTG thermograms
Figure 10. Thermograms of (a) control and (b) 0.02% po-
tassium dichromate treated jute fabrics -PP composites.
(Upper part-TG, middle part-DTA and bottom part-DTG
thermogram).
show that maximum degradation temperatures of un-
treated composite for first and second stage are 365.1˚C
and 426.7˚C respectively and those for treated composite
are 363.9 ˚C and 448.0˚C. From these findings it can be
realized that maximum degradation temperature of un-
treated (365.0˚C) and treated (363.0˚C) jute fabrics re-
mains almost unchanged in the composites. At second
stage, the maximum degradation temperature of neat PP
(413.8˚C) is shifted to higher temperature regions by
12.9˚C and 34.2˚C for untreated (426.7˚C) and treated
(448.0˚C) composites respectively. It indicates that
treatment of jute fabrics with 0.02% K2Cr2O7 improves
the thermal stability of the composite to a large extent
which justifies the development of strong fiber-matrix
interface in treated composite.
3.5. Interfacial Properties of the Composites
To find out the fiber matrix adhesion inside the compos-
ites, SEM studies were carried out. SEM images of the
tensile fractured surfaces of the untreated (a) And 0.02%
K2Cr2O7 treated (b) Jute fabrics reinforced PP composites
are presented in Figure 11. This is clearly indicated for
untreated composites that fiber pull-out is quite higher and
the bonding between jute and matrix is not good. Small
gaps are evident in the matrix near to the jute fibers.
However, for treated composite interface suggested better
fiber matrix adhesion which is supported by low fiber
pull-out. From this investigation this is clearly evidenced
that fiber matrix interfacial adhesion is better for treated
composite compared to that for the untreated one. The data
presented above for the mechanical properties of both
types of composites, also supported the SEM observation.

Mechanical, Thermal and Interfacial Properties of Jute Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites: 356
Effect of Potassium Dichromate
(a) (b)
Figure 11. Scanning electron microscopic images of the
tensile fractured surfaces of (a) control and (b) 0.02% po-
tassium dichromate treated jute fabrics reinforced PP
composites.
3.6. Water Uptake of the Composites
Jute fiber is hydrophilic in nature due to presence of po-
lar group (−OH group) in its structure. The polar group
forms hydrogen bond by absorbing water molecules and
this induces swelling in fibers. Composites in this study
contain about 45% jute fibers (by weight). Water may
penetrate into the composite through the cutting edges.
The percent water uptake of control and K2Cr2O7 (0.02%)
treated jute-PP composites was measured with different
time intervals (days) and is presented in Figure 12. It is
observed that water absorption of control composite is
higher than that of the treated composites. The percent
water gain of the control composite is 8.0-13% during
the experimental periods which is dropped down to 7-10
% for treated composite. In treated composite better fi-
ber-matrix adhesion might be responsible for the lower
tendency of water uptake as compared to control com-
posite. It is also noticed that during the period of 24 hr,
4
6
8
10
12
14
0
10 20 30 40
Time (days)
Water uptake (%)
Control Composite treated composite
Figure 12. Percent water uptake of control and potassium
dichromate treated jute fabrics -PP composites.
water absorption for both the composites is very rapid.
After 15 days of water soaking, percent water gain of
control composite remains almost static. This phenome-
non is observed for treated composite after 7 days of
soaking periods. At static conditions, fibers get saturated
with water molecules and can no more gain water mole-
cules from the surroundings.
4. Conclusions
The mechanical and thermal behavior of jute fabric/PP
composites was studied with special reference to fiber
content and fiber treatment. The mechanical properties of
the untreated composites were found highest at 45% fi-
ber content. Treatment of jute fiber in polypropylene
matrix brought an important change in the properties of
the composites. Composites (45% fiber content) prepared
with 0.005-0.03% w/v K2Cr2O7 (in aqueous medium)
treated jute fabrics showed better performance than that
of the control composite. It was found that 0.02%
K2Cr2O7 treated composite produced the highest values
of all mechanical properties over the other combinations.
Thermal analytical data showed that thermal stability of
the composites either treated or untreated was higher
than that of neat PP or jute fabrics. K2Cr2O7 treatment
improves the thermal stability of the composite consid-
erably. Scanning electron microscopic analysis of the
control and treated composites supported that some
changes happened due to the K2Cr2O7 treatment. Frac-
tured surfaces of the treated composite showed low fiber
pull-out and thus indicated better fiber matrix adhesion
over the untreated composite interface. The tendency of
water uptake of the composite was also reduced due to
K2Cr2O7 treatment.
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