Mechanical characterization of untreated waste office paper/woven jute fabric hybrid reinforced epoxy composites

The aim of this work is to assess the opportunity to use untreated waste office paper, alone and in combination with jute fabric, as a reinforcement in epoxy composites. Five different stacking sequences were manufactured and tested. Adding untreated waste office paper sheets has been revealed to increase both flexural and tensile strength of the neat resin and of the untreated jute fabric reinforced composites. The effect of the hybridization on tensile and flexural behavior has been evaluated through scanning electron microscopy observations and acoustic emission. The results confirm that waste office paper sheets can be used as a reinforcement for an epoxy resin, thus representing a viable alternative to paper recycling. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 119: 1366-1373, 2011