Investigation on the Fire Resistance and Reaction Properties of Woven Jute Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Natural fibre-reinforced composites offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials. However, their application in structural and fire-critical environments remains limited due to insufficient understanding of their behaviour under combined thermal and mechanical stress. This study presents a novel integration of mechanical degradation and fire reaction analysis of woven jute fibre-reinforced epoxy composites subjected to elevated temperatures (room temperature to 250 °C) and external heat fluxes (35, 50, 70 kW/m²). Specimens are fabricated via hand lay-up with vacuum bagging and tested for elevated-temperature tensile and flexural properties, revealing a critical mechanical deterioration above 100 °C. Fire reaction parameters evaluated through cone calorimetry showed that increased heat flux significantly accelerated ignition and elevated heat release and smoke production. The novelty of this work lies in the combined assessment of fire resistance and fire reaction, alongside the development of regression models (R² > 0.90) that accurately predict flammability responses under untested conditions. One-Way ANOVA confirms statistically significant influences of temperature and heat flux (p < 0.05) and Pearson correlation analysis reveals strong interdependencies between fire parameters. These findings provide valuable predictive insight for engineering applications of bio-based composites and propose a new methodology to evaluate the coupled fire-mechanical vulnerability of natural fibre laminates under realistic service conditions.