With burgeoning environmental concerns worldwide, using natural fibers/ fillers to produce composites rather than conventional fibers is on the rise. The current work focuses on the physical and thermomechanical characteristics of alkaline-treated jute filler-based epoxy composites. The composites have been prepared with different weight fraction of jute fillers (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, and 12.5%) using hand layup process. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis observed that the alkali treatment of jute fillers improved the crystallinity and molecular structure, enhancing the interfacial and molecular bond between fillers and matrix. The mechanical characterizations of developed composites analyzed that the inclusion of treated jute fillers strengthened the tensile and flexural properties. The 5% filler-based composites have demonstrated maximum tensile strength (54.06 MPa) and modulus (3.12 GPa) with maximum flexural strength (67.55 MPa) and modulus (3.90 GPa). The viscoelastic characteristics of composites revealed that the 7.5% filler-based composite has the highest storage modulus (3.75 GPa), loss modulus (0.496 GPa), and glass transition temperature (91 C) due to greater interfacial interactions of molecules. The weight loss and degradation of composites analyzed with thermogravimetric analysis, and observed better thermal stability with treated jute fillers. The morphological analysis at fracture surfaces analyzed the brittle catastrophic failure of composites. Therefore, the finding produced better specific strength and stiffness with greater thermal stability for electronics equipment, packaging, and transportation.

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Nowadays, the utilization of natural fiber reinforced composite has increased frequently. These natural fibers have significant features like low cost, renewable, and, more importantly, biodegradable in nature, making them to be utilized for various industrial sectors. However, the massive demand for natural fiber reinforced composites (NFRC), forces them to be machined and operated, which is required for countless areas in multiple industries like automotive, marine, aerospace and constructions. But before obtaining the final shape of any specimen, this specimen should come across numerous machining processes to get the desired shape and structure. Therefore, the present review paper focused on the various aspects during conventional and unconventional machining of the NFRC. It covers the work by exploring the influence of all input variables on the outcome produced after machining the NFRC. Various methodologies and tools are also discussed in this article for reducing the machining defects. The machining of the NFRC is found as a challenging task due to insufficient interlocking between the matrix and fibers, and minimum knowledge in machining characteristics and appropriate input parameters. Thus, this review is trying to assist the readers to grasp a basic understanding and information during the machining of the NFRC in every aspect.

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Nowadays, the reduction of petroleum products has been aggressively studied due to their environmental concerns and for finding alternative synthetic materials for sustainable development. Thus, naturally derived biocomposites have great potential for creating a sustainable economy with reduced environmental pollution. The present study deals in two major parts; first, the fabrication of the knee prosthetic socket from different laminate biocomposites (FFF, KKK, and RRR) and examined their mechanical performance, thermal stability and degradation behaviour. The interface pressure between the developed socket and residual limb has been examined using the F-socket sensor. Second, the output data of experiential tests and measured interface pressure have been used for numerical analysis to examine the equivalent stress, deformation and safety factor of the sockets at different loading conditions (500 N, 700 N and 900 N). The results observed that FFF biocomposites have maximum compressive strength (121.0 6MPa), impact strength (36.86 kJ/m2), and shear strength (28.51 MPa) which is 8.15%, 49.53%, and 58.88% higher than RRR biocomposites and 2.74%, 34.62%, and 39.28% higher compared to KKK biocomposites, respectively. RRR biocomposites recorded higher hardness (68.42) and fatigue endurance stress (82.86 MPa) due to higher brittleness properties. The thermogravimetric analysis and degradation behaviour have been analyzed to examine thermal stability, degradation temperature, and degradation weight loss behaviour of biocomposites. Finally, the stress generation on the developed socket during the gait cycle is much lower than its calculated strength that did not affect the performance of the socket. Therefore, laminated biocomposites can be an alternative biomaterial to plastics and conventional materials due to their lighter weight, higher flexibility, and economical to provide greater comfort to the users for knee prosthesis applications.

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