From Jute Yarn To High Performance Technical Textiles

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Jute yarns can be woven either using automatic power looms or shuttleless looms or on handlooms. Of the world production of jute goods, which stands at about 30 lakh m.tons per year¹ India accounts for about 50%. Bangladesh and China account for 17% each. In India, around 80% of the jute yarns are used for manufacturing sacking, carpet backing & Hessian cloth as shown in Figure1.

Figure 1 : Proportion of Jute Fibres used for Manufacturing Different Products

In Bangladesh, more than 90% of the jute yarns manufactured are utilized for manufacturing sacking, carpet backing & Hessian.

Of late, the application possibility of jute for the manufacture of technical textiles has been studied by various research workers. Some of the major findings of those studies are illustrated in this paper.

2.0 TECHNICAL TEXTILES

Technical Textiles is the fastest growing area of textile consumption in the world and the growth rate (CARG) varies from 3 to 5 % per annum. According to the survey conducted by David Rigby Associates, by 2010 AD, the requirement of technical textiles will be about 24 million metric tons per year.

David Rigby Associates has classified 12 application areas for technical textiles and jute products suitable for different application areas are given in table 1:

Protective Textiles

Although, jute fibres could never be thought of for apparel use, the following exclusive properties of the fibre make it just ideal for use in protective clothing against fire and heat viz. high strength, high abrasion resistance, reasonable resistant to heat, durability and washability, (after appropriate chemical treatments) when compared with synthetic fibres and relative low cost.
It can be used for protective aprons and gloves for protecting those working in the oil installation and refinery, fire brigade, refractors and engineering plants. At times the jute fabric may be given water and oil repellant treatments. In this application areas, it partly replaces Kevlar fibre.

Table 2 depicts the performance of jute blended protective garments.

Table 2 : Comparison of the performance of Jute/Kevlar blend

Studies⁴ conducted by IJIRA reveals that multi-component jute yarns can be successfully used for manufacture of technical fabrics like canvas (for tents and tarpaulins) and fire retardant fabrics of international quality standards using friction spinning system. Since the cost of high performance fibres to manufacture technical yarns are very high, use of jute fibre as a blend would be cost effective. The quality characteristics of high tenacity multi-component yarns for F.R. protective fabrics are given in Table 3.

Table 3 : High Tenacity Jute Blended Multi-component

Structural Composites

The composite materials are increasingly replacing metals and wood (which make the structures heavy and expensive). Although plastics are used for the purpose, as they are light in weight, they are not very effective in performance. Asbestos is carcinogenic. Generally among composites, glass fibre/resin composite is popular. But, even this proves to be expensive, though it is very effective in performance. The physical properties of laminated and non-laminated jute stick particle board is given in Table 4:

The particle boards produced using jute stick have excellent sound absorption properties. The composites can observe about 80% sound for a frequency of 4000 Hz. The properties of jute composites (Table 4) as quoted by Mitra⁵ are at par with that of medium density fibre boards.

Substantial amounts of research studies have been reported in the field of jute composites^6-14. The studies pertain to quality characteristics of jute composites while using different resins and manufacturing techniques.

The potential for jute-reinforced plastics¹⁵ have been explored and has been found suitable due to the special properties of jute like (i) High strength, (ii) High modulus and (iii) Low cost.

Jute in the form of fibre, sliver, twine, non-woven fabric is mixed with a binder system (which could be epoxy resins, polyesters or polypropylene) to form the composites for various uses as listed below:

Architecture for false ceiling, paneling, partitions, doors and windows, furniture and pre-fabricated shelters

Transport for bus or railway coaches, auto trims, ship interiors, dash board panels etc.

Engineering components, brake liners, moulding materials etc.

Other applications like packing boxes, signboards, letter boxes etc.

Jute also has been reported to be used as building material such as fibre reinforced concrete and roofing tiles, bituminised run way covering etc.

Studies by NIRJAFT⁵ revealed that flexural strength, tensile strength and impact strength improves with increase of resin component in jute stick particle board (Figure 2) used for interior decoration.

Automotive Textiles

The use of jute fibre in Automotive textiles³ offers the following advantages over other fibres like (i) Natural and inexpensive, (ii) Low density, (iii) High strength, (iv) Low extensibility and (v) No harmful residue when incinerated

The only problem with jute is its affinity for moisture and its low mildew resistance. However, the mildew resistance can be improved by chemical treatment of the jute fibre. The jute felts are used in auto-interiors.

Seat Backing

For making seat backings, a layer of non-woven jute felt in the weight range of 300 - 400 g/sq.m is sandwiched between the leather seat covers with coir and spring layers. This gives a smooth feeling to the seat.

Jute Autocarpet Underlaying

In the present day cars, the comfort of the occupants has become essential. It is required that even the boots and leg spaces of the car should have cushioning effect. This could be achieved by using non-woven jute felt of about 600 g/sq.m.

Composites for Automotives

The different panels in automobile like door panel, dash boards. Head liners could be manufactured using jute felts. These jute felts are either thermosett with polyester or polypropylene resin or may be reinforced on low cost plastic sheets. In this case heavier jute felts of 1000 g/sq.m weight are used. The rigid panels are then covered with PVC/polyester cloth and installed with other fittings.

These composites are also used in brake linings of the vehicles, replacing carcinogenic asbestos fibre.

Jute based auto trims offer the following advantages:

Lighter weight of the vehicle, leading to fuel savings
Low thermal conductivity of the jute fibre which acts as good barrier to heat
Equivalent performance as compared to composites made out of synthetics used in Automobiles.

Jayachandran etal¹⁶ evaluated the non-woven jute fabrics as seat backing, carpet underlaying and fibre re-inforced structure punching, where it is an environment friendly option over powder phenolic resin, which is non-cyclable and non-degradable.

Car body panel developed by IJIRA¹⁷ by resin transfer moulding using jute/polyester composites have the following advantages over glass/polyester composites:

Substantially cheaper than glass
Offer real weight savings
Allow easier recycling of moulded parts
Are not as abrasive as glass fibres giving less tool wear

Thermoplastic composites from jute/polypropylene¹⁸ shows better quality characteristics over polypropylene composites (Table 5).

3.0 CONCLUSIONS

The market size and potential for technical textiles in India is projected to be in the region of Rs. 30,000 (Rises by 2007-09). A systematic approach and determined efforts to introduce jute in the manufacture of, technical textiles at least in a few selected areas to start with, will go a long way in providing a new lease of life to the entire jute community.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are thankful to Dr Arindam Basu, Director, SITRA for his keen interest in this project. Thanks are also due to Ms Indra Doraiswamy, Research Advisor, SITRA for her guidance at various stages of progress of this study.

5.0 REFERENCES

1.Indian Jute, A Bulletin published by Jute Manufacturers Development Council, Kolkata, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2002

2.David Rigby Associates, World Technical Industry and Its Markets, April 1997

3.Bardhan M.K., Jute Eco Friendly Fibre for Technical Application and Eco Friendly Recycling of Non-Degradable Polyester Bottle Waste Proceedings of the 24th Technological Conference, IJIRA, Kolkata, January 2002, p. 100

4.Khauta D.P., Ray D.K., Sankar D., Neogi S.K. and Bhattacharya B.K., Dref Spun Jute Blended Multi-component Technical Yarns and Fabrics, Proceedings of Jute India Conference, New Delhi, October 1997.

5.Mitra B.C., Data Book on Jute, National Institute of Research on Jute and Allied Fibre Technology (NIRJAFT), Kolkata, January 1999

6.Dutta C., Basu D. and Bannerjee A., Mechanical and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Jute Fibres Novalac Epoxy Composite Laminates, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 85/14, 2002, 2800 280

7.Ray D., Sarkar D.K, Das S. and Rana A.K., Dynamic Mechanical & Thermal Analysis of Vinyl Enter Resin Matrix Composites Reinforced with the Interested and Alkali Treated Jute Fibres. Composites Science & Technology 2002, 62/7- 8, p. 911-917

8.Chichoki F.R. and Thomson J.L., Thermo Elastic Anisotropy of a Natural Fibre of a Natural Fibre, Composites Science & Technology 2002, 62/5, p. 669-678

9.Bledzai A.K., Zhang W and Chate A., Natural Fibre Reinforced Polyurethane Microfoams, Composites Science & Technology 2001, 61/60 p. 2405 2411

10.de Alduquerque A.C. Joseph K., de Carvalho LH and d.Almeida J.R.M., Effect of Wettability and Ageing Condition on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Uniaxielly Oriented Jute Roving Reinforced Polyester Composites, Composites Science & Technology 2000, 60/6, p. 833 844

11.Mohanty A.K., Khan M.A. and Hinrich Sen G., Surface Modifications of Jute and Its Influence on Performance of Bio-degradable Jute/Fabric/Biopol Composites, Composites Science & Technology 2000, 60/7, p. 1115 1124

12.Mishra H.K., Dash B.N. Tripathi S.S. and Padhi B.N., A Study on Mechanical Performance of Jute-Epoxy Composites, Polymer Plastic Technology and Engineering 2000, 39/1, p. 187-198

13.Singh B., Gupta M. and Verma A., The Durability of Jute Fibre Reinforced Phenolic Composites, Composites Science & Technology (Elsevier Science LPD) 2000, 60/4, p. 581-589

14.Gassan J. and Bledzki A.K., Possibilities for Improving the Mechanical Properties of Jute Epoxy Composites by Alakli Treatment of Fibres, Composites Science & Technology 1999, 59/9, p. 1303 1309

15.Rana A.K. Mandal A. and Jayachandran K., Jute Composites Properties and Applications in Packaging, Packaging India, Vol. 3, No. 6, February March 1999, p. 15 19

16.Jayachandran K., Rana A.K. and Mandal A., Application of Jute in Auto Interiors, Proceedings of Automative Textiles, 19th February, 2000, SASMIRA, Mumbai, p. 38 40

17.Jute Composites Using Resin Transfer Moulding Technology, Private Communication from IJIRA, Kolkata

18.Jute Polypropylene Composites, Private Communication from IJIRA, Kolkata

About the author:

K.P. Chellamani, Debasis Chattopadhyay and M.P.S. Ravindran are associated with SITRA

The south Indian Textile Research Association,
P.B.No.: 3205, Coimbatore Aerodrome Post, Coimbatore - 641 014, Tamil nadu, India.
Phone : 91 - 422 - 2574367-9,
Fax : 91 - 422 - 2571896,
Email : sitra@vsnl.com