Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Jute Fabrics Reinforced Polyethylene/Polypropylene Composites: Role of Gamma Radiation

Jute fabrics reinforced polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and mixture of PP+PE matrices based composites (50 wt% fiber) were prepared by compression molding. It was found that the mixture of 80% PP+20% PE hybrid matrices based jute fabrics reinforced composites performed the best results. Gamma radiation (250-1000 krad) was applied on PP, PE and jute fabrics then composites were fabricated. The mechanical properties of the irradiated composites (500 krad) were found to increase significantly compared to that of the non irradiated composites. Electrical properties like dielectric constant, loss tangent and conductivity with temperature variation of the composites were studied.