A comprehensive review of techniques for natural fibers as reinforcement in composites: Preparation, processing and characterization.

The increase in awareness of the damage caused by synthetic materials on the environment has led to the development of eco-friendly materials. The researchers have shown a lot of interest in developing such materials which can replace the synthetic materials. As a result, there is an increase in demand for commercial use of the natural fiber-based composites in recent years for various industrial sectors. Natural fibers are sustainable materials which are easily available in nature and have advantages like low-cost, lightweight, renewability, biodegradability and high specific properties. The sustainability of the natural fiber-based composite materials has led to upsurge its applications in various manufacturing sectors. In this paper, we have reviewed the different sources of natural fibers, their properties, modification of natural fibers, the effect of treatments on natural fibers, etc. We also summarize the major applications of natural fibers and their effective use as reinforcement for polymer composite materials.

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Natural Fibers as Sustainable and Renewable Resource for Development of Eco-friendly Composites: A Comprehensive Review

There is significant work published in recent years about natural fibres polymeric composites. Most of the studies are about the characterization of natural fibres and their comparison with conventional composites regarding mechanical behaviour and application performance. There are dozens of types of natural fibres with different properties influencing their use, or not, in specific industrial applications. The natural origin of these materials causes, in general, a wide range of variations in properties depending mainly on the harvesting location and conditions, making it difficult to select the appropriate fibre for a specific application. In this paper, a comprehensive review about the properties of natural fibres used as composite materials reinforcement is presented, aiming to map where each type of fibre is positioned in several properties. Recent published work on emergent types of fibres is also reviewed. A bibliometric study regarding applications of natural fibres composites is presented. A prospective analysis about the future trends of natural fibres applications and the required developments to broaden their applications is also presented and discussed.

Natural Fibre Composites and Their Applications: A Review

Since the last two decades, many researchers have refocused on using natural fibres, as reinforcements for cementitious and polymer based structural materials. The use of natural fibres for structural applications is not modern. Long before a century ago people in many small towns in China and Korea already mixed straws with mud to build walls in villages. However, at that time there was no systematic way to study the fundamental mechanism and interpret how natural fibres strengthen structures and what processes should be adopted to maximize the performance of natural materials. Currently, nevertheless natural fibre reinforced polymer (NFRP) composites have been widely used in automotive and building industries, it is still a room to promote them to high-level structural applications like primary structural components of aerospace and maritime structures. It is difficult to evaluate the quality of natural fibres, which generally extracted from the nature, and thus it is challenging to develop a generic formula to predict the structural and mechanical properties of NFRP composites. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of natural fibres and polymers, respectively, cause poor bonding interaction at interface. Traditional shear-lag model was popularly used to study the stress transfer mechanism between fibre and matrix of advanced composites. However, such model is not applicable to NFRP composites due to the imperfect shape of nature fibres along their longitudinal direction and irregular shape of fibres' cross section. In this paper, analysis on different aspects in related to the use of natural fibres for real life engineering applications is given. Basic analytical models focusing on the stress transferability in composites are also discussed to provide an insight for researchers and engineers to understand the design and requirements of using natural fibres for structural applications in the future.

Properties of natural fibre composites for structural engineering applications

A review on new bio-based constituents for natural fiber-polymer composites

Utilization of agricultural and forest industry waste and residues in natural fiber-polymer composites: A review

Modification of hemp fibers (Cannabis Sativa L.) for composite applications

Effect of steam treatment on the chemical composition of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and identification of the extracted carbohydrates and other compounds

Taneli Väisänen

Papers

A review on new bio-based constituents for natural fiber-polymer composites

Utilization of agricultural and forest industry waste and residues in natural fiber-polymer composites: A review

Modification of hemp fibers (Cannabis Sativa L.) for composite applications

Effect of steam treatment on the chemical composition of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and identification of the extracted carbohydrates and other compounds

Imparting resiliency in biocomposite production systems: A system dynamics approach