International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:13 No:02 122

Fabrication and Characterization of Woven Natural

Fibre Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Resin
Composites
Rafia Akter1 , Rajia Sultana 1 , Md. Zahangir Alam1,*
Md. Rakibul Qadir2 , M. H. Ara Begum2 , Md. Abdul Gafur2,*
1
Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
2
PP and PDC, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Dr. Kudrat E Khuda road, Dhaka, Bangladesh
*
Corresponding Authors; E-mail: zahangir@du.ac.bd, m_a_gafur@yahoo.com

Abstract -- Woven natural fibre reinforced polymer composites
consisting of Pati bet also known as murta (Clinogyne dichotoma)
reinforcement, unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) matrix and
talc filler were fabricated by simple cold press molding.
Thermosetting unsaturated polyester resin with 7.5% styrene
monomer was used as matrix which form gel in 2-3 hours by
using 1.5% methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) hardener.
Double layer woven fibre mats were used. Talc was used as at
different weight percentages (5%, 10% an d 15%) to investigate
its effects on different properties of composites. It was observed
that flexural strength and modulus increased with an increase in
talc content. Thermal stabilities of composites were also
improved.
Index Term-- Fibre reinforced polymer composite, unsaturated
polyester resin, Clinogyne dichotoma, Talc, Flexural strength.
1. INTRODUCTION
Co mposite is defined as solid materials, which consist of a
combination of two or mo re materials in which the indiv idual
components retain their separate identities 1-2 . Co mposite
materials have been of interest because of their wide
applications in many fields such as civil, industrial, military,
space craft, automobiles, packaging and bio medical
applications main ly because of their excellent thermo -
mechanical properties 3-7 . Traditional plastic materials are
reinforced by glass fibers, wh ich are both expensive and
harmful to the environment. The use of natural fiber as
reinforcement for the co mposites has received increasing
attention and polymer based composites having natural fiber
as reinforcement have the potential to be attractive alternative
to synthetic fiber co mposites. As environmental pollution is
increasing day by day, it is essential to develop and use
biodegradable material. Natural fiber reinforcement increases
biodegradability, reduces cost and decreases environmental
pollution and hazards. Recently many types of natural fibers
have been investigated for use in plastics including flax,
hemp, jute, straw, wood rice husk, wheat, barley, oats, rye,
bamboo, sugarcane, grass, reeds, kenaf, ramie, sisal, coir,
banana fiber, etc8-13 . Laly et al. 14 investigated banana fiber
reinforced polyester composites and found that the optimu m
content of banana fiber is 40% . It was reported that kraft
pulped banana fiber composite has good flexural strength.
Audary Whaling et al reported the novel talc -filled
biodegradable bacterial polyester composites 15 . Talc-filled
composites of a bacterial polyester, i.e., poly (3-
hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydro xyvalerate) or PHBV, were
prepared by extrusion fo llowed by an in jection mo lding
process. The effects of talc content on various mechanical and
thermo-mechanical properties of the PHBV co mposites were
studied. The flexural and tensile moduli of PHBV based
composites were improved by 70% and 166% respectively,
when reinforced with a talc content of 50 wt%.
Patibet or Murta which is botanically known as Clinogyne
dichotoma is a cellulose fibre and abundantly available in
Bangladesh. It is very popular because of its glossy
appearance. The fibres are collected fro m outer portion of the
stem of the plant including the ep idermal part. In this research
woven murta fibre known as shital pati is used as a
reinforcement for the co mposite. To the best of our knowledge
there is no report on such composite yet.
The use of natural fibre and unsaturated polyester matrix is
highly beneficial because the strength and toughness of the
resulting composites are greater than those of unreinforced
plastics. Moreover, cellulose-base natural fibres are strong,
light, cheap, abundant and renewable. Recently thermosetting
resins have received increasing attention from industry.
Unsaturated polyesters are extremely versatile in propert ies
and applications and have been used as a polymer matrix in
composites, such as fiber-reinforced plastic and polymer
concrete16 . Unsaturated polyester resins are widely used in a
host of application where advantage may be taken of their
good range of mechanical properties, low cost, good corrosion
resistance and low weight.
Talc is used as filler at different weight percentages in
composite to modify the properties of composites. An
important benefit of using fillers is the reduction of cost by
replacing port ion of poly mer with a less expensive material. It
has been reported that the fracture surface energies of
polyester resin and epoxy resin and their resistance to crack

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propagation are low17 . But if part iculate filler is added to these
resins, the particles inhibit crack growth.
In this study, we report the p reparation and characterizat ion of
woven pati bet fib re rein forced polyester resin co mposites in
which talc was used as filler. The effects of talc content on
different physico-mechanical and thermal properties of
composites were investigated in detail.
2. EXPERIMET AL
2.1 Materials
In this study pati bet also known as murta fibre is used as
natural fibre. Murta or Pati bet is the raw material fo r making
shitalpati, a trad itional bed mat of Bangladesh. It is also
known as 'patipata', 'mostak', paitara', in different parts of
Bangladesh. Murta, Schu mannianthus dichotoma (=
Clinogyne dichotoma), is a member of the family
Marantaceae. S. dichotoma is a rh izo matous shrub with an
erect and glossy green stem attaining a height of 3-5 m and a
diameter of 2.0 cm. The stems are leafy and dichotomously
branched. Geographically it is distributed in northeast
Bangladesh, West Bengal and Malay Peninsula. In
Bangladesh it occurs naturally in the swamp forests of Sylhet,
and cultivated mostly in the districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj,
Barisal, Tangail, Co milla, Noakhali, Feni and Chittagong.
Traditional art isans make strips fro m outer port ion of the stem
including the epidermal part. These split strips are processed
and plaited into mats. Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) cured
by hardener was used as matrix material. Different weight
percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%) of talc were added as
filler.

Polyester resin
Filler (Talc) Styrene Monomer
Hardener (MEKP)
Mixing
Matrix Material

Shital Pati Laminating

(Reinforcement)

Molding

Compression
and Curing

Composite Sample

Fig. 1. Schematic flow diagram for fabrication of woven patibet fibre reinforced polyester resin composites.

2.2 Fabrication of the Composites
Figure 1 shows the scheme fo r the preparation of pati bet fibre
reinforced polyester resin co mposites. The composite
specimens were prepared in open mold cold co mpression
method. Double layer mats were used to prepare the samples.
Unsaturated polyester resin, 7.5 wt% of styrene monomer and
1.5% (vol %) of hardener (M EKP) were taken in a steel bowl.
Talc powder was added at different weight percentages (0%,
5%, 10% and 15%) as filler. They were then mixed well and
made ready for laminating reinforced mats. The co mposite
samples were fabricated by hand lay-up technique. Two open
mo lds were used. At first, a melot paper was placed on dried
bottom part. Then some of the prepared resin mixtu re with or
without filler was spread evenly on the paper. After that, a
piece of woven pati bet was placed on the resin mixture and a
part of resin mixtu re was spread on the mat. Another piece of
pati bet was placed and similarly rest of the resin mixture
spread on the mat. A melot paper was placed on the mat

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following which top part of the open mold was kept on the
paper. The prepared samples were allo wed to cure under
pressure at room temperature. Karl Ko lb press machine was
used to develop pressure. 20-30 kg/cm2 pressure was
maintained. It requires 2-3 hours for curing.
2.3. Characterization of composites
The flexural test for the co mposite samples was carried out by
using Universal testing machine or UTM (model-1011UK,
INSTRON Corporat ion). Flexural specimens were prepared
according to ASTM D790M, 3 point loading. The support
span length was 60mm and test speed was 5mm/ min. Thermal
properties of the fibre, matrix and composites were
determined by Sieko EXSTA R6000 Thermo Grav imetric
/Differential Thermal Analy zer6300. Morphological studies of
fibre, matrix (UPR) and co mposites were carried out by X-ray
diffraction analysis.
3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Water absorption property of composites
Water absorption properties of composites were carried
out at room temperature in de-ionized water for several days.
The results are presented in Figure 2. It was found that
initially the co mposites absorbed water rap idly and after 24
hours absorption rate became slow. Water absorption of
composites were also increased with an increase in talc
content as expected. This is due to hydrophilic property of
talc.

Fig. 2. Water absorption as a function of talc content of the pati bet fibre reinforced polyester resin composites.

3.2 Flexural Properties of composites
Flexu ral strength is the ability of the material to withstand
bending forces applied perpendicular to its longitudinal axis.
Figure 3 shows the effect of talc content on flexural strength
(A) and modulus (B) of talc filled pati bet fibre reinforced
polyester resin composites. Both flexural strength and
modulus of talc filled co mposites increased with an in crease
in talc content. It reveals that due to addit ion of talc, rapture
strength or bending strength of the co mposites improved.
Addition of talc in resin reduces the crack growth tendency of
UPR matrix of the composite. It is also evident that flexural
modulus increased gradually wh ich reveals that it can
withstand bending forces to a great extent.

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(A)

(B)

Fig. 3. Flexural strength (A) and modulus (B) of talc filled pati bet fibre reinforced polyester resin composite as a function of t alc content.

3.3 Tensile strength of talc filled pati bet reinforced
polyester composites
Figure 4(A) p resents the effect of addition of talc on tensile
property of pati bet-polyester composites. It reveals that with
the increase of talc content tensile strength of the composite
decreased. During experiment satisfactory results were not
obtained fro m pati bet polyester co mposite. It may be due to
poor interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix. The effect
of talc addition on Youngs modulus of pati bet-polyester
composites is presented in Figure 4 (B). With an increase in
talc content, Youngs modulus increased except 10% talc
content. At 15% talc content we obtained maximu m value of
Youngs modulus.

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(A)

(B)

Fig. 4. T ensile strength (A) and Youngs modulus (B) of talc filled pati bet fibre reinforced polyester resin composite as a f unction of talc content.

3.4 Thermal Properties of talc filled Pati bet fibre-
polyester composites
Thermal properties of pati bet fibre, mat rix UPR and
composites were evaluated by thermo grav imetric analysis.
The thermo gravimet ric analyzer is capable of performing
hermogravimetry (TG), d ifferential thermal analysis (DTA)
and differential thermogravimetry (DTG) at the same time.
Figure 5 shows the TG, DTG and DTA curves of pati bet fibre
(green), unsaturated polyester resin (blue) and talc filled
(15%) pati bet fibre polyester composite (red). Fro m the figure
it is observed that patibet fiber degraded at the lowest
temperature and polyester resin degraded at the highest
temperature. The shital pati- polyester (15%Talc) co mposite
degraded at their intermed iate temperature. So the co mposite
carries the thermal properties of both reinforcement and
matrix material. Corresponding results are represented in the
Table I.

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20.00 100.0
4.500

TG
4.000
15.00 50.0
pati bet fiber-green
3.500 shitol pol composite 15%-Red
polyester-blue

3.000
10.00
DTA
0.0
DTG mg/min

2.500
DTA uV

TG %
2.000 5.00 -50.0

1.500

1.000 0.00 -100.0

DTG
0.500

-5.00
-150.0
0.000

-0.500
50.0 100.0 150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 400.0 450.0 500.0 550.0
Temp Cel

Fig. 5. T G, DT G and DT A curves of patibet fiber ( ), UPR ( ) and shital pati-UPR (15% T alc) composite ( )

T ABLE I
T HERMAL P ROP ERTIES OF MURTA FIBRE , UPR AND COMP OSITE

Materials Onset temperature Temperature at 50% Total degradation

C degradation, C
Murta Fibre 304.2 331.5 53.2
UPR 365.6 392.2 87.8
Composite (15% Talc) 339.2 376.8 76.1

CONCLUSION degradation rate was also at intermed iate range of that of

Co mposites with good properties could be successfully
fabricated using pati bet fibre as reinforcing agent, unsaturated
polyester resin as matrix and talc as filler by simp le
compression method with less accessories. The use of
lignocellulosic fibre fro m naturally gro wing plants (pati bet)
as reinforcement in unsaturated polyester composites reduces
cost and increases bio-degradability of the products hence to
reduce environmental pollut ion. Thus the uses of natural fiber
may open the path of diversified application of environment
friendly material in our modern civ ilizat ion. Fro m the studies
it was found that, water absorption property, flexu ral strength
and modulus increased with an increase in talc content. Talc
filled pati bet fibre-polyester composites degraded at
intermediate temperature o f that of fibre and UPR and total
fibers and UPR.
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