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In this study, wear resistance and some selected physical properties of pawpaw–glass fiber hybrid reinforced epoxy composites were investigated. Two different layers of pawpaw stem—linear and network structures—were extracted and chemically modified. Hybrid reinforced composites were developed comparatively from the two fiber structures and glass fiber using hand lay-up in an open mold production process. The wear resistance was studied via the use of a Taber Abrasion Tester while selected physical properties were also investigated. The influence of the fiber structure on the properties examined revealed that network structured pawpaw fiber was the best as reinforcement compared to the linearly structured fiber. The addition of these vegetable fibers to epoxy resin brought about improved thermal conductivity and increased the curing rate while the wear resistance of the corresponding developed composites were enhanced by 3 wt% and 15 wt% of fibers from linear and network pawpaw fibers. It was noticed that linearly structured pawpaw fiber had its best result at 3 wt% while network structured pawpaw fiber had its best result at 15 wt%.

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Natural fibres are biodegradable materials that contribute to the development of a “green” economy due to their numerous merits such as energy efficiency, ease of manufacturing, environmental friendliness, low cost, sustainability, and biodegradability. Natural fibres have lately become more appealing to technology and innovation as substitute materials for synthetic fibre-based composites due to these qualities. Several projects have also been undertaken to reveal the potential applications, economic and environmental benefits of natural fibres sourced from plants for polymer reinforcements. Among the commonly used fibres are banana and sisal fibres which form part of the reasons for their selection in this review. The justification for this is the environmental concerns in the modern days which have increased the demand for natural materials as suitable alternatives for synthetic reinforcements. Hence, this review reveals the impact of banana and sisal fibres as reinforcements in polymers on the environment, the possible future processing pathways, and applications.

One of the main purposes of this research is to control environmental pollution and mitigate the impact of ignorantly discarded waste plastics in the environment through recycling of such plastics and using them to develop innovative composite materials. The present work investigates the influence of stone-dust particles and bagasse fiber on the mechanical and physical properties of reinforced recycled high-density polyethylene bio-composites. The bagasse fiber was first treated with 0.5 m NaOH solution at a temperature of 50°C for 2 h in order to improve the surface morphology and also modified the mechanical properties of the fiber. Likewise, the stone-dust particles were analyzed by using a standard sieve shaker to obtain particle sizes of 75 μm. Both reinforcements were used for composite development through the compression molding technique and the samples were subjected to mechanical and physical properties tests in accordance with standards. Analysis of the results revealed that flexural, hardness, wear, and hydrophobicity of the developed bio-composites were improved by stone-dust particles. The flexural strength at peak and modulus were enhanced by 88% and 92%, respectively. Also, it was discovered that, tensile, impact and thermal conductivity properties of the bio-composites were improved by bagasse fiber. The ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus were enhanced by 43% and 34%, respectively. Hence, the blend of these by-products showed that they are potential bio-materials for the development of bio-composites.

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