Jute fiber mats-reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix composites having different fiber weight contents (11, 22, 32 wt%) were fabricated by modifying the hand lay-up technique with resin pre-impregnation into the jute mats in vacuum. This modification showed a better impregnation of resin throughout the jute mats and lower voids contents in the composites. Two types of impact tests, swing pendulum (Izod) and drop weight (impulse) were carried out to evaluate the effect of fiber contents on the impact properties of these composites.
The Izod impact strength and impulse impact energy increase as the fiber content increases and the improvement had occurred at 11 wt% fiber content compared to that of the neat resin. Moreover, the fracture surface has demonstrated that fiber pull out mechanism is the predominant failure mode for different fiber weight contents. The total energy increases with fiber contents of 11 and 22 wt% to about three times, whereas the total energy increases at 32 wt% to about four times compared to total energy of neat resin. Multiple matrix cracking with fiber pull-out mechanism was revealed from the impulse impact test of the composites