The increasing trend of the use of synthetic products may result in an increased level of pollution affecting both the environment and living organisms. Therefore, from the sustainability point of view, natural, renewable and biodegradable materials are urgently needed to replace environmentally harmful synthetic materials. Jute, one of the natural fibers, plays a vital role in developing composite materials that showed potential in a variety of applications such as household, automotive and medical appliances. This paper first reviews the characterization and performance of jute fibers. Subsequently, the main focus is shifted towards research advancements in enhancing physical, mechanical, thermal and tribological properties of the polymeric materials (i.e., synthetic or biobased and thermoplastic or thermoset plastic) reinforced with jute fibers in a variety of forms such as particle, short fiber or woven fabric. It is understood that the physio-mechanical properties of jute-polymer composites largely vary based on the fiber processing and treatment, fiber shape and/or size, fabrication processes, fiber volume fraction, layering sequence within the matrix, interaction of the fiber with the matrix and the matrix materials used. Furthermore, the emerging research on jute fiber, such as nanomaterials from jute, bioplastic packaging, heavy metal absorption, electronics, energy device or medical applications and development of jute fiber composites with 3D printing, is explored. Finally, the key challenges for jute and its derivative products in gaining commercial successes have been highlighted and potential future directions are discussed.

A detailed investigation of physical, mechanical and thermal properties of jute and bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy resin unidirectional void free composites was carried out. The composites were prepared by using vacuum technique. Scanning electron microscopic analysis, tensile and flexural testing and thermogravimetric analysis were performed in order to evaluate surface morphology, mechanical properties and thermal behavior of the unidirectional composites respectively. The relationship between theoretical and experimental values was figured out using rules of mixture. The analytical results showed good agreement with the experimental results. Comparing jute and bamboo fiber reinforced unidirectional composites, it is observed that bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites showed good results in terms of tensile strength, while jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites had higher Young's modulus values. Bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites showed good flexure strength in the longitudinal distribution. On the other hand, jute fiber reinforced epoxy composited had better flexural strength with transverse fiber distribution in the composites. Fiber distribution was not uniform for both bamboo and jute fiber reinforced unidirectional epoxy composites. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that morphological changes took place depending on the fiber orientation in epoxy composites. It is also observed from thermogravimetric analysis that jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites had better thermal behavior compared to bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites

The application of natural fibers is increasing rapidly in the polymer-based composites. This study investigates manufacturing and characterization of polypropylene (PP) based composites reinforced with three different natural fibers: jute, kenaf, and pineapple leaf fiber (PALF). In each case, the fiber weight percentages were varied by 30 wt.%, 35 wt.%, and 40 wt.%. Mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and impact strengths were determined by following the relevant standards. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to identify the chemical interactions between the fiber and the PP matrix material. Tensile strength and Izod impact strength of the composites significantly increased for all the composites with different fiber contents when compared to the pure PP matrix. The tensile moduli of the composites were compared to the values obtained from two theoretical models based on the modified “rule of mixtures” method. Results from the modelling agreed well with the experimental results. Tensile strength (ranging from 43 to 58 MPa), flexural strength (ranging from 53 to 67 MPa), and impact strength (ranging from 25 to 46 kJ/m²) of the composites significantly increased for all the composites with different fiber contents when compared to the pure PP matrix having tensile strength of 36 MPa, flexural strength of 53 Mpa, and impact strength of 22 kJ/m². Furthermore, an improvement in flexural strength but not highly significant was found for majority of the composites. Overall, PALF-PP displayed better mechanical properties among the composites due to the high tensile strength of PALF. In most of the cases, T₉₈ (degradation temperature at 98% weight loss) of the composite samples was higher (532–544 °C) than that of 100% PP (500 °C) matrix. Fractured surfaces of the composites were observed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and analyses were made in terms of fiber matrix interaction. This comparison will help the researcher to select any of the natural fiber for fiber-based reinforced composites according to the requirement of the final product.

Natural fibers are environment-friendly, biodegradable, nonabrasive, and less costly and exhibit high initial modulus and high moisture absorption. However, they have nonuniformity in their mechanical, physical, chemical, and thermal properties at different portions. For this reason, long jute fiber was cut into three different portions and subsequently characterized using single fiber tensile test, differential scanning calorimetric, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy according to top, middle, and cutting portions. The crystallinity and moisture content were measured by XRD data and moisture absorption test of the different portions of the raw jute fiber, respectively. The middle portion had better mechanical, thermal, chemical, and crystalline properties compared to the other two portions of the jute fiber. The diameter gradually became thinner from cutting to top portions. Thus the middle portion of jute fiber would be the better choice while being used as reinforcement in composites.

In recent years, natural fibers, such as jute has gained significant research interest in order to fabricate fiber reinforced polymer composites. Chemical treatments are generally carried out on the raw fibers for making composites with improved properties. From a composite manufacturing point of view, it is important to understand how the treatments can affect the thermal properties of the jute fiber. In the present research, the effects of rot-retardant, fire-retardant and water-retardant treatments on thermal properties of the jute fiber were investigated. Fiber samples were collected from the middle portion of whole jute fiber. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis were subsequently conducted on the jute fiber for thermal characterization. The results demonstrated a lower thermal decomposition temperature in the case of fire-retardant treated jute fiber but higher residue at above 400 °C, as compared to the raw and other treated fibers. In general, it was found that chemically treated fibers absorbed less heat, in contrast to the raw jute fiber and heat flow became negative in all cases of the treated fibers. This study provides important information about the thermal properties of the treated jute fibers for manufacturing polymer-based composite materials.