Tailoring the structure and properties of jute blended nonwoven geotextiles via alkali treatment of jute fibers

•Limited amount of alkali treatment enhances mechanical properties of jute fibers.•Comparison made between physical and mechanical properties of blended geotextiles.•Improvement in mechanical properties of geotextiles with alkali treated jute fibers.

Geotextiles are generally made from natural or synthetic fibers and both fibers offer their own advantages and disadvantages for geotechnical applications. In this study, the jute fibers were treated with 4 wt.% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution in order to enhance their tensile properties. A series of needlepunched nonwoven geotextiles were then fabricated by formulating blends of untreated jute and polypropylene fibers and corresponding sets of nonwovens containing alkali treated jute and polypropylene fibers in defined weight proportions. Subsequently, a comparison has been made between the physical and mechanical properties of these blended nonwoven geotextiles. In general, the alkali treated jute blended nonwoven geotextiles offer higher puncture resistance in addition to higher tensile and tearing strengths in the cross-machine (preferential) direction than their corresponding blended geotextiles consisting of untreated jute fibers. Blended nonwoven geotextiles consisting of more than 40 wt.% jute fibers were not found to be useful in enhancing the mechanical properties.