ABSTRACT
Now a day the interest in using natural fibers as reinforcement in polymer composite material has increased significantly. Now this natural fiber based composite manufacturing has been a wide area of research and it is the most preferred choice for not only its superior properties like low density, stiffness, light weight and possesses better mechanical properties but also they are renewable, cheap, completely or partially recyclable, and biodegradable. In this study, an attempt has been made to fabricate jute-glass fiber based polymer composite skateboard and investigate its performances. For this skateboard, the materials were chosen epoxy resin (ADR 246 TX) as the matrix and jute mat and glass fiber as reinforcement. The construction of the skateboard is done by using hand layup techniques. The skateboard thus made was tested for its mechanical properties like tensile test, flexural test, drop test and impact test. Visual analysis of the skateboard shows that hand layup techniques provides a reliable process to make a perfect skateboard. The performance test results indicate that jute-glass fiber based polymer skateboard has a sustainable strength over Canadian hard rock maple wood for the application in constructing sportswear component i.e. skateboard. Cost analysis indicates that using this skateboard cost saving more than 20 % can be achieved.
