Mechanical and water swelling properties of waste paper reinforced unsaturated polyester composites

In the present work, unshredded waste newspaper based composites have been prepared in polyester resin matrix. Reinforcing material, waste newspaper is characterized by chemically, X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tensile properties. Three different fibre content composite samples, namely 25%, 34%, and 50% (by weight) are prepared by hand lay-up techniques. Water absorption and thickness swelling tests are conducted by immersing composite samples in distilled water at room temperature. It is found that the percentage of moisture uptake and thickness swelling are increased as the fibre volume fraction is increased due to the high cellulose content. The tensile, flexural and interlaminar shear strength properties of water immersed samples are investigated and compared with dry composite samples. It is observed that after swelling the mechanical properties of composites are found to decrease with increase in percentage moisture uptake.