An Overview of Natural Fiber Composites for Marine Applications

Abstract

Environmental emergency awareness has been gaining momentum in recent years in the composite manufacturing industry, with a new generation of composite materials minimizing their harmful environmental impacts by employing more sustainable manufacturing processes and, where possible, replacing synthetic materials with more sustainable bio-based materials, thus more efficiently using energy and material resources. In this context, natural fiber composites are proposed as appealing candidates to replace or reduce the use of synthetic fibers for reinforcing polymers in several industrial fields, such as the marine sector, where composite usage has been extensively studied in recent years. This review aims to present a thorough overview of the usage of natural fiber composites for marine applications, discussing the most relevant criteria required for applications where water exposure is expected. For this purpose, the review outlines the natural fibers and matrices used, analyzes the resultant composites’ mechanical properties, and presents the fiber treatments required before manufacturing, as well as the main manufacturing processes adopted for natural fiber composite production. The advantages and disadvantages of natural fibers compared to synthetic fibers are also presented, including economic and environmental credentials. Finally, a list of marine components with natural fiber reinforcements developed in recent years is reported.

Extraction of Lightweight Platanus orientalis L. Fruit’s Stem Fiber and Determination of Its Mechanical and Physico-Chemical Properties and Potential of Its Use in Composites

“…Polymeric resins have been combined with various natural fibers, such as kenaf, sugar palm, flax, jute, hemp, etc., to create new materials known as natural fiber composites [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. According to this perspective, the use of natural fiber composites has attracted the interest of material scientists and engineers because of the benefits they provide [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Amazon Natural Fibers for Application in Engineering Composites and Sustainable Actions: A Review

“…However, animal fibers such as hair and silk [42][43][44] and mineral fibers like asbestos and basalt [45][46][47][48][49] are not as widely used as reinforcement compared to plant fibers [50][51][52]. On the other hand, several plant fibers have been extensively employed in biocomposites for automotive, maritime, aerospace, and construction applications [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. Plant fibers can also be classified based on the region of the plant from which they are extracted, categorized as bast, fruit, grass, seed, leaf, stalk, and wood fibers [62,63].…”

Material Selection of Natural Fibre Composite Webbing Sling Using Rule of Mixture

“…Aerospace and marine industries are the top industries that support plant-based sources that can offer weight reduction benefits, especially in manufacturing the interior components, non-structural parts, boat hulls, and decks (Asim et al, 2018;Pellicer et al, 2017). NFC provides good resistance to water and also reduces environmental impacts, especially in marine vessels (Hawary et al, 2023).…”