Effect of fiber content on flexural properties of jute fiber reinforced perlite/ gypsum composite core-based sandwich structures

In this work, two types of sandwich structures were fabricated to develop sustainable building materials using renewable and waste resources. The chopped jute fiber reinforced perlite-filled gypsum composite was used as the core and the brown paper and the woven jute fiber reinforced epoxy composite (JFRC) were used as skins to manufacture the sandwiches. The effect of jute fiber content (10 g - 20 g) in the core on the flexural properties was studied. The flexural test was conducted to determine the flexural strength, modulus, energy absorption, and the load-bearing capacity of brown paper skin-based sandwiches (BPSS) and JFRC skin-based sandwiches (JFSS). The results of this study show that the flexural properties of both BPSSs and JFSSs are improved significantly with increasing jute fiber content up to 17.5 g indicating the optimum fiber content. The flexural strength and modulus of BPSS at 17.5 g jute fiber content are respectively 8.44 % and 30.16 % greater than those at 10 g jute fiber content. On the other hand, the JFSSs show 30.24 % and 60.36 % increase in flexural strength and modulus respectively at 17.5 g jute fiber content compared to those at 10 g fiber content. The flexural energy absorptions of BPSS and JFSS are also increased by 45.40 % and 22.90 % respectively when jute fiber content in the core is increased from 10 g to 17.5 g. The specific load-bearing capacity of JFSSs is 130.38 % - 216.56 % greater than BPSSs depending on the fiber content in the core.