Improving the Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Composites for Structural and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Natural fiber composites are designed for different purposes including structural and non-structural ones. These natural fiber composites vary greatly in their properties including mechanical properties. Mechanical properties which include the tensile and flexural properties are highly dependent on factors such as matrix type, filler type, processing, post processing treatment and many more, factors which are quite application specific. However, many research works develop their natural fiber composite before considering the possible applications. This chapter intends to X-ray the factors that affect the mechanical properties as it relates to structural and biomedical applications and suggest ways of improving the mechanical properties.

Effect of intralaminar hybridization on mode I fracture toughness of natural fiber-reinforced composites

“…Hence, in the hybrid composites, the propagation of the crack was higher than in nonhybrid composites. This can be explained by the fact that the hybridization process improved the stiffness of the hybrid composites as shown in the previous study [14]. This improvement in stiffness is due to the different Young's modulus of each fiber (i.e., 22.33 ± 10.10 GPa for jute compared to 61.99 ± 25.30 GPa for sisal and 87.23 ± 15.40 GPa for curauá).…”

“…Hybridization consists of adding two or more different types of reinforcements (natural or synthetic fibers) in a matrix. It was shown in the literature that the final properties of hybrid composites are dependent on several factors, such as mechanical properties of each fiber, orientation and length of fiber in the matrix, compatibility between fiber and matrix, processing and environmental conditions [14]. The curauá fiber was stitched, filling the empty spaces of the sisal and jute fabrics, in one direction (unidirectional) in a proportion of 60/40 (jute or sisal fabrics and curauá fibers, respectively).…”

“…There are different methods to improve the mechanical properties of NFRCs, such as surface modification, blending, compatibilization, addition of nanoparticles and hybridization (i.e., combination of two or more different types of natural or synthetic fibers in one matrix) [14]. The effects of hybridization on the mechanical properties of NFRCs were studied in the literature [15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Non-woody Biomass as Sources of Nanocellulose Particles: A Review of Extraction Procedures

“…They identified that when these plant fibers are treated with alkaline solution, the mechanical and thermal properties were enhanced. In addition, the plant fibers upgraded the bulk properties of the composites when used in the preparation of composites (Balakrishnan et al, 2019;Shesan et al, 2019). Furthermore, the attractive properties of these plant fibers such as cost effectiveness, availability and renewable sources, encouraged the production of these biodegradable composites with little or no adverse effect on the environment (Johar et al, 2012;Sheikhi, 2019;Torgbo and Sukyai, 2019;Wang et al, 2019).…”

Renewable and Sustainable Composites

“…Therefore, partially substituted cotton fibers in a composite made with wood fibers could offer very huge benefits in terms of the performance of the composite and also in the manufacture prices. The hybridization of wood flour-polypropylene composites with waste cone flour (20-40 wt%) was reported the composite was said to have been negatively affected in terms of their flexural properties and water resistance of the composite [146]. However, adding pine cone flour (10 wt %) to the composite revealed no substantial consequence on the measured properties, i.e.…”