Experimental study of the compaction response of jute fabrics in liquid composite molding processes

The aim of this work is to characterize the compaction behavior of jute woven fabric preforms. The maximum compaction pressure, permanent deformation, and stress relaxation of the preforms were found to be dependent on the final fiber volume fraction and the compaction speed. Higher compaction speeds led to higher compaction pressures, stress relaxation, and permanent deformation. On the other hand, as the fiber content was raised, the maximum compaction pressure and the permanent deformation increased, while the stress relaxation decreased. In addition, it was found that the structure of natural fibers affected the compaction behavior of the preforms. Each fiber is composed of several hollow elementary fibers, which collapsed due to the compressive loading. Furthermore it was found that fluid absorption reduced the compaction pressure in natural fiber preforms due to fiber softening.