1CSIR Materials Science and Manufacturing, Nonwovens and Composites Research Group, P.O. Box 1124, Port Elizabeth, 6000, South Africa
2Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Science, University of Port Elizabeth, P.O. Box 1124, Port Elizabeth, 6000, South Africa
*Corresponding author: Rajesh D. Anandjiwala; Rajesh.Anandjiwala@nmmu.ac.za
Online published on 2 May, 2015.
Natural fibres, such as flax, hemp, kenaf and jute, are gaining increasing importance in automotive, aerospace, packaging, fibre-reinforced composites and other technical and industrial applications. This is due to the fact that natural fibres offer competitive specific tensile properties, in some cases even better than glass fibres. Moreover, other advantages of the natural fibres include carbon dioxide sequestration, ease and flexibility of manufacturing and environmental friendliness besides derived from the renewable resources. The market scenario for composite applications is changing due to the introduction of newer bio-degradable polymers, such as PLA synthesized from corn, development of composite manufacturing techniques and new stringent environmental laws requiring improved recyclability or biodegradability for industrial applications where stress bearing capacities and micro-mechanical failures dictate serviceability. Bast fibre reinforced composites, made from bio-degradable polymers, will have to compete with conventional composites in terms of their mechanical behaviour. Bio-composites, in which natural fibres, such as kenaf, jute, flax, hemp, sisal, corn stalk, bagasse or even grass are embedded in a biodegradable matrix, made as bioplastics from soybean, corn and sugar, have opened-up new possibilities for applications in automotive and building products. Obviously, new approaches to research and development will be required to improve their mechanical properties, such as tensile, bending and impact resistance to match their performance and commercial competitiveness against petroleum based products. The research community has to look at the various possibilities of combining natural fibres, such as sisal, flax, hemp and jute with polymer matrices from non-renewable and renewable resources to develop cost effective biocomposites. This paper will review the newer products and techniques that can improve the properties of bast fibre based composites as well as potential structural and non-structural applications which can increase their market share.
Natural bast fibres, Fibre-reinforced composite, Biodegradable, Particle boards, Automotive components, Biocomposites, Thermoset, Thermoplastic
