The abundant availability and accessibility of plant fibres are the major reasons for an emerging new interest in sustainable technology. While focusing on the composite materials, the main points to be considered are environment friendliness and light weight, with high specific properties. This century has witnessed remarkable achievements in green technology in the field of materials science through the development of high-performance materials made from natural resources is increasing worldwide. Plant fibres are a kind of renewable resources, which have been renewed by nature and human ingenuity for thousands of years. The greatest challenge in working with plant fibre reinforced composites (PFRCs) is their large variation in properties and characteristics. A PFRCs properties are influenced by a number of variables, including the fibre type, environmental conditions, processing methods, and modification of the fibre. A detailed systematic review on these sustainable and renewable green materials is presented in this paper. The overall characteristics of plant fibres used in bio-composites, including source, type, structure, composition, as well as properties, will be reviewed. Finally, the review will conclude with recent developments and future trends of PFRCs as well as key issues that need to be addressed and resolved.

Plant fibre based bio-composites: Sustainable and renewable green materials

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is a promising additive manufacturing technology and an alternative of conventional processes for the fabrication of fibre reinforced composites due to its ability to build functional parts having complex geometries. Continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs) are becoming more significant in industrial applications due to their inherit advantages such as excellent mechanical performance, recycling and potential lightweight structures [1,2]. However, a major concern affecting the efficient use of 3D printed composites is the effect of impact damage on the structural integrity, compared to conventional pre-preg composites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of build orientation, layer thickness and fibre volume content on the impact performance of 3D printed continuous carbon, glass, and Kevlar® fibre reinforced nylon composites, manufactured by FDM technique. Charpy impact tests are carried out to determine impact strength. SEM images of fractured surfaces are examined to assess failure mechanics of the different configurations. It is observed that the effect of layer thickness of nylon samples on the impact performance was different for flat and on-edge samples. Impact strength increases as layer thickness increases in flat samples but, conversely, it decreases in on-edge samples, depicting a more brittle fracture. In addition, the results show that impact strength increases as fibre volume content increases in most cases. Glass fibre reinforced samples exhibits the highest impact strength and carbon fibre reinforced samples the lowest one and similar to nylon performance. Furthermore, on-edge reinforced samples exhibit higher values of impact strength than flat reinforced samples. Finally, the results obtained demonstrate that impact strength exhibited by 3D printed composites are significantly higher than the usual 3D printed thermoplastics and, in some cases, even better than common pre-preg materials.

Impact damage resistance of 3D printed continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites using fused deposition modelling

Recent advancement in the natural fiber polymer composites: A comprehensive review

Crashworthiness characteristics of flax fibre reinforced epoxy tubes for energy absorption application

Lightweight design of carbon twill weave fabric composite body structure for electric vehicle

Effect of delamination failure in crashworthiness analysis of hybrid composite box structures

Experimental studies on fracture characterisation and energy absorption of GFRP composite box structures

Effects of Mode-I and Mode-II interlaminar fracture toughness on the energy absorption of CFRP twill/weave composite box sections

Charpy impact damage behaviour of single and multi-delaminated hybrid composite beam structures

To improve impact damage response of single and multi-delaminated FRP composites using natural Flax yarn

Hessam Ghasemnejad

Papers

Effect of delamination failure in crashworthiness analysis of hybrid composite box structures

Experimental studies on fracture characterisation and energy absorption of GFRP composite box structures

Effects of Mode-I and Mode-II interlaminar fracture toughness on the energy absorption of CFRP twill/weave composite box sections

Charpy impact damage behaviour of single and multi-delaminated hybrid composite beam structures

To improve impact damage response of single and multi-delaminated FRP composites using natural Flax yarn