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Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is improved as a soy resin system when aldehyde-based curing agent is used for crosslinking. In this work, composites were prepared by reinforcing sodium hydroxide treated jute felts with CNSL modified soy resin and characterized in terms of water resistance, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical properties and screw drilling properties. Addition of 4 wt% CNSL in soy resin increased water resistance of the composite by 10% whereas tensile properties of composite improved by about 40%. Maximum storage modulus of CNSL based composite was found 8412 MPa as compared to 1092 MPa of jute-soy composite without CNSL. Composites were exposed to accelerated weather and checked for dimensional stability, change in weight and mechanical properties. These composites could find wide applications in railway and automobile interiors, furniture, toysand so forth.

Jute‐reinforced, soy milk‐based nano‐biocomposites were fabricated using both natural and organically modified nanoclay to study their effect on physical, mechanical, and degradation properties. Different weight percentages of nanoclays were used to modify soy milk by solution casting process. The jute fibers were then impregnated in modified soy resin and compressed to fabricate nano‐biocomposites. About 5 wt% of organically modified nanoclay‐loaded jute composite showed maximum tensile and flexural strength. X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of fabricated composites confirmed about the formation of nanostructure. Impact, microhardness, dynamic mechanical analysis results of nano‐biocomposites revealed that nanoclay has influenced to improve such physical and mechanical properties. Microbial degradation study of nano‐biocomposites was carried out in cultured fungal bed. Weight loss, tensile loss, and field emission scanning electron microscopy photographs of composites revealed that composites are biodegradable in nature. The prime advantages of these composite are their eco‐compatibility as jute and soy resin, the basic constituents of composites are biodegradable in nature. These composites can be utilized in automobile, packaging, furniture sectors by replacing nondegradable plastic‐based composite. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:345–354, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Jute fiber and soymilk extracted from soy seed were selected as ecofriendly and fully biodegradable components for making rigid and strong composite as a replacement of composites made from synthetic components. Rigid composites were prepared using non-woven jute fabric (felt) as reinforcing component and soymilk as matrix resin and properties of the composite specimens were characterized. Jute fiber in the non-woven jute fabric was modified by treating with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide for various time periods before composite fabrication. Significant increase in tensile strength (upto 42%) of jute fibers in the felt was achieved by 2 h, 2% alkali treatment. Both raw and alkali-treated jute felts were used for preparing composites with soy milk as resin using furfuraldehyde as cross linking agent. Different composites were fabricated by varying the quantity of jute felt, crosslinking agent and hot compression time and the process parameters were optimized. Mechanical properties of alkali-treated jute felt composites exhibited better tensile properties than those of raw jute felt composites. These biodegradable jute soy composites with comparable mechanical properties can potentially serve as cost-effective eco-friendly alternative to synthetic polymer-based non-biodegradable fiber composites in automobile, furniture and packaging industries.

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