Replacing Wood by Polymer Composites with Jute Fibre

Abstract

Conservation of the natural resources of our planet has become an issue of prime importance all over the world. Indiscriminate felling of trees has come in for severe criticism and all developed countries have been exploring the possibilities of developing alternatives for wood products. Modern building planners, Architects and Builders are leaning towards environment friendly products by considering minimum use of wood in construction. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has now banned the use of wood in building constructions with effect from April 1993. Even so, about 4 million cubic metre of timber is annually used in our country for housing purposes and there is an additional annual demand of about 1.5 million cubic metres. It is, therefore, high time that wood alternatives are brought into use. Conventional wood-based materials are known for their susceptibility to fire damage, impact damage, high temperature damage, aggressive chemicals and high voltage areas. To overcome all these problems it has been made possible to use jute fibre as reinforcing filler fibre hybridizing with glass fibre to produce high strength synthetic wood substituted products. It is essential to prepare Sheet Moulding Compound (SMC) and Dough Moulding Compound (DMC) for the production of synthetic wood substituted composite materials. The basic technological aspects along with commercial applications and business possibilities of this unique and innovative, high strength synthetic wood substituted products have been highlighted in this paper.