N RECENT YEARS a great interest has be...

ABSTRACT: Composites of jute fabrics (Hessian cloth) and Biopol ® were prepared by compression molding process. Three types of Biopol ® (3-hydroxbutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalarate) such as D300G, D400G and D600G, depending on the concentration of 3-hydroxyvalarate (3HV) in 3-hydroxbutyrate (3HB) were taken for this purpose. Mechan-ical properties such as tensile strength (TS), bending strength (BS), elongation at break (Eb) and impact strength (IS) of the jute-Biopol ® composites were studied. It was found that the composite with D400G produced higher mechanical properties in comparison to the other two types of Biopol®. To increase mechanical properties as well as interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix, 2-ethyl hydroxy acrylate (EHA), vinyl tri-methoxy sil-ane (VMS) and 3-methacryloxypropyl tri-methoxy silane (MPS) were taken as coupling agents. Enhanced mechanical properties of the composites were obtained by using these coupling agents. Biopol ® D400G composites showed the highest mechanical properties. Among the coupling agents EHA depicts the highest increase of mechanical properties such as tensile strength (80%), bending strength (81%), elongation at break (33%) and impact strength (130%) compared pure Biopol. SEM investigations demonstrate that th