Tensile Properties of Bamboo, Jute and Kenaf Mat-Reinforced Composite

Natural fibers, characterized by sustainability, have gained a considerable attention in recent years, due to their advantages of environmental acceptability and commercial viability. In this paper, several kinds of composites with natural fiber mat as reinforcement and unsaturated polyester(UP) as matrix, including jute/UP, kenaf/UP and bamboo/UP, were fabricated by hand lay-up and compression molding methods. Their tensile properties were tested and discussed, as well as the low cycle fatigue(LCF) behavior of three composites, which was compared with glass/UP. After the test, the fracture cross sectional observations were carried out on the selected test specimens using a scanning electron microscope(SEM), with a focus on the fracture morphologies. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.