Recent progress in thermal and acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites: Preparation, characterization, and data analysis

Abstract

Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs) have emerged as promising eco‐friendly alternatives over conventional synthetic fiber composites due to their inherent biodegradability, renewability, low environmental impact, and lightweight properties. It has been seen a significant growth in both invention and innovation in the field of NFRPCs. Natural fibers (NFs) reduce the cost of the material by 5%, the weight of the composite by 10%, and the energy required for production by 80%. In terms of thermal, and acoustic properties, NFs can successfully compete with synthetic fibers. As a result, the development of NFRPCs for industrial use has increased significantly in the past decade to meet the growing demands of industrial sectors. To improve the thermal and acoustic properties of NFRPCs, researchers have done a lot of investigation. The aim of the current review is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature on the thermal and acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, TGA, DSC, DMA, and acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced composites with several parameters, such as different fiber types, different matrix types, fiber weight ratio, fiber to matrix ratio, chemical treatment of fiber have been summarized and analyzed very concisely. This review also emphasizes a summary of different natural fibers, their chemical compositions, composite preparation, characterizations, and future research directions. This article enables the readers, researchers, and manufacturers to realize several opportunities about the latest developments in NFRPCs for the application of thermal and acoustic purposes.Highlights Natural fibers can successfully compete with synthetic fibers, in terms of thermal and acoustic properties. Thermal properties of natural fiber reinforced composites including thermal conductivity, TGA, DSC, and DMA are summarized. Acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites are discussed. Composite materials made of treated fibers result better thermal stability than untreated fiber composites. Sound absorption coefficient generally increases as fiber content increases.

Improvement of mechanical and thermal expansion properties of pectinase treatment plant fiber reinforced starch/PBAT composites

“…As the temperature rises, shrinkage occurs instead. Due to the strong covalent bonding between atoms on the chain segment and the weak interaction between chain segments, only lateral motion can occur when heated, resulting in axial contraction 34 . Specifically, the linear expansion coefficient of the composite with 15 wt% coir fiber added decreased by 73.4% compared to the composite without added fibers in the temperature range of 40–80°C.…”

“…Due to the strong covalent bonding between atoms on the chain segment and the weak interaction between chain segments, only lateral motion can occur when heated, resulting in axial contraction. 34 Specifically, the linear expansion coefficient of the composite with 15 wt% coir fiber added decreased by 73.4% pared to the composite without added fibers in the temperature range of 40-80 C. This reduction can be attributed to the large aspect ratio of coir fibers, forming strong bonds with polymer chains and limiting the ability of molecular chains to deform. Simultaneously, pectinase treatment can damage the network structure of cell walls, remove pectin components from the fibers, and render the fiber structure fluffy.…”

Development of sunflower husk reinforced polypropylene based sustainable composites: An experimental investigation of mechanical and thermal performance

“…Among the agricultural waste products that can be used to manufacture natural fiber composites, rice husks, wheat straw, corn husks and sunflower husks are very popular, and significant research effort is devoted in this area. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Firstly, Aridi et al conducted a study wherein they fabricated composites using polypropylene (PP) as the matrix material and rice husk as the reinforcing agent. The objective of their investigation was to examine the influence of varying rice husk proportion on the composites' mechanical properties.…”