Biofiber Reinforcements In Composite Materials

Natural fiber-reinforced composites have the potential to replace synthetic composites, leading to less expensive, stronger and more environmentally-friendly materials. This book provides a detailed review on how a broad range of biofibers can be used as reinforcements in composites and assesses their overall performance. The book is divided into five major parts according to the origins of the different biofibers. Part I contains chapters on bast fibers, Part II; leaf fibers, Part III; seed fibers, Part IV; grass, reed and cane fibers, and finally Part V covers wood, cellulosic and other fibers including cellulosic nanofibers. Each chapter reviews a specific type of biofiber providing detailed information on the sources of each fiber, their cultivation, how to process and prepare them, and how to integrate them into composite materials. The chapters outline current and potential applications for each fiber and discuss their main strengths and weaknesses. The book is divided into five major parts according to the origins of the different biofibers - bast, leaf, seed; grass, reed and cane fibers, and finally wood, cellulosic and other fibers including cellulosic nanofibers. This book provides a detailed review on how a broad range of biofibers can be used as reinforcements in composites and assesses their overall performance The chapters outline current and potential applications for each fiber and discuss their main strengths and weaknesses

This book provides an overview on the latest technology and applications of bio-based fiber composite materials. It covers the mechanical and thermal properties of bio-fibers for polymeric resins and explains the different pre-treatment methods used by the researchers for the enhancement. In addition, this book also presents a complete analysis on the tribological behavior of bio-fiber reinforced polymer composites to appreciate the friction and wear behavior. This book would be a handy to the industrial practitioners and researchers in the direction of achieving optimum design for the components made of natural fiber based polymer matrix composites.

This book provides valuable information about fiber-reinforced polymer composites, with emphasis in the process of water absorption by experiments and simulation. In this monograph, we present and discuss emerging topics related to fundamentals, engineering applications, advanced mathematical modeling applied to Fickian and non-Fickian diffusion processes, analytical and computational procedures and experiments on water absorption of polymer composites reinforced by vegetable fibers. The book serves as a comprehensive learning tool for engineers, professionals, and researchers involved in this advanced interdisciplinary field, and as a reference work for both undergraduate and graduate courses.

The purpose of this volume is to present recent results of developments and applications of novel materials, namely, nontoxic ecological materials, green and nanomaterials, advanced membrane technologies and building materials.

This book, consisting of 21 articles, including three review papers, written by research groups of experts in the field, considers recent research on reinforced polymer composites. Most of them relate to the fiber-reinforced polymer composites, which are a real hot topic in the field. Depending on the reinforcing fiber nature, such composites are divided into synthetic and natural fiber-reinforced ones. Synthetic fibers, such as carbon, glass, or basalt, provide more stiffness, while natural fibers, such as jute, flax, bamboo, kenaf, and others, are inexpensive and biodegradable, making them environmentally friendly. To acquire the benefits of design flexibility and recycling possibilities, natural reinforcers can be hybridized with small amounts of synthetic fibers to make them more desirable for technical applications. Elaborated composites have great potential as structural materials in automotive, marine and aerospace application, as fire resistant concrete, in bridge systems, as mechanical gear pair, as biomedical materials for dentistry and orthopedic application and tissue engineering, as well as functional materials such as proton-exchange membranes, biodegradable superabsorbent resins and polymer electrolytes.

Polymer-based fibre-reinforced composites FRC’s have now come out as a major class of structural materials being used or regarded as substituent’s for metals in several critical components in space, automotive and other industries (marine, and sports goods) owing to their low density, strength-weight ratio, and fatigue strength. FRC’s have several commercial as well as industrial applications ranging from aircraft, space, automotive, sporting goods, marine, and infrastructure. The above-mentioned applications of FRC’s clearly reveal that FRC’s have the potential to be used in a broad range of different engineering fields with the added advantages of low density, and resistance to corrosion compared to conventional metallic and ceramic composites. However, for scientists/researchers/R&D’s to fabricate FRC’s with such potential there should be careful and precise design followed by suitable process development based on properties like mechanical, physical, and thermal that are unique to each application. Hence the last few decades have witnessed considerable research on fibre reinforced composites. Fibre Reinforced Composites: Constituents, Compatibility, Perspectives and Applications presents a widespread all-inclusive review on fibre-reinforced composites ranging from the different types of processing techniques to chemical modification of the fibre surface to enhance the interfacial adhesion between the matrix and fibre and the structure-property relationship. It illustrates how high value composites can be produced by efficient and sustainable processing methods by selecting different constituents [fibres and resins]. Researchers in academia working in composites and accompanying areas [materials characterisation] and industrial manufacturers who need information on composite constituents and how they relate to each other for a certain application will find the book extremely useful when they need to make decisions about materials selection for their products. Focuses on the different types of FRC’s that are currently available (e.g. from polymeric matrices to metallic and ceramic matrices, from carbon fibre to different types of natural fibres and from short to long fibre reinforced), their processing techniques, characterization of different properties, and how to improve the interfacial adhesion between an incompatible fibre and matrix and their applications Looks at crisis areas such as how to incorporate incompatible fibres and matrices together (e.g. Non-polar polypropylene matrix is not compatible with that of polar natural fibres and hence suitable surface modifications are required to make them compatible with each other) along with low cost processing methods, low density and high strength Uncovers clarifications to both elementary and practical problems related to the fabrication of FRCs Schematic representations depicting the interaction between different fibre types and matrices will be provided in some chapters

This book summarizes recent developments in epoxy blends. It emphasizes new challenges for the synthesis, characterization, and properties of biofibers and biopolymers. It provides updates on all the important areas of biofibers and biopolymers in a comprehensive fashion, including synthesis, processing, characterisation and application. It provides a a one-stop reference for researchers and those working in industry and government. The book correlates macro, micro and nanostructure properties. Moreover, it provides cutting edge research from experts around the globe. The current status, trends, future directions and opportunities are discussed in detail, making the book also accessible for beginners to the subject and young researchers.

This book will be a one-stop-shop for readers seeking information on lightweight composites made from multiple materials via diverse processing technologies. The lightweight composites are featured for their potential to be basic construction units in a variety of areas, especially automotive, civil engineering, aerospace engineering, etc. Emphasis will be on how fibers or fibrous structures reinforce the composites. The subject of the book is to provide a comprehensive understanding on the raw materials, processing technologies, performance properties, and end uses of lightweight composites.