Page 327 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

P. 327

Hemp, jute, banana, kenaf, ramie, 9

sisal ﬁbers

Manickam Ramesh
KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India

9.1 Introduction

Fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) have been used for many years for several appli-
cations for a wide and increasing range of applications, especially in the automobile
sector, and the market is growing rapidly. It is known that the reinforcement by ﬁbers
embedded in polymers has several advantages, especially for the mechanical strength
of the composites. Synthetic ﬁbers such as carbon or glass are used as reinforcements
for polymers in high-performance applications such as the automobile and aircraft in-
dustries (Chawla, 1998; Strands, 1972; Brody and Ward, 1971). The performance of
these composites has improved continuously through rigorous research, often through
mixing of two or more reinforcements/polymers or ﬁllers (Summerscales and Short,
1978; Harris and Bunsell, 1975; Bunsell and Harris, 1974; Manders and Bader,
1981). However, these high-performance composites are difﬁcult to recycle as the sep-
aration of the components at end of life is quite difﬁcult (Henshaw et al., 1996; Pick-
ering, 2006; Conroy et al., 2006). Therefore, these composites are often disposed off in
unsatisfactory ways such as in landﬁlls or by incineration which causes a vast and
detrimental impact on the environment. Ecological problems in recent decades have
encouraged the search for new alternatives, which could replace the traditional
FRCs with materials that have a lower environmental impact (Bledzki and Gassan,
1999; Faruk et al., 2012; La Mantia and Morreale, 2011; John and Thomas, 2008).
This has created a renewed interest in biomaterials, which could be used as reinforce-
ments or ﬁllers in composites and are thus referred to as plant ﬁberereinforced com-
posites or ecocomposites or biocomposites (Bogoeva-Gaceva et al., 2007; Mohanty
et al., 2000a). Several researchers have envisaged using different plant ﬁbers as rein-
forcements in polymers so as to produce eco-friendly composites for several applica-
tions that do not require excellent mechanical properties, such as secondary building
walls, car door panels, packaging, etc. (La Mantia and Morreale, 2011). The use of
plant ﬁbers as reinforcements in composites has been growing since then, and these
have replaced several synthetic FRCs in many applications such as automotive, ma-
rine, aerospace, construction industries, etc. (Bledzki and Gassan, 1999; Faruk
et al., 2012; La Mantia and Morreale, 2011; John and Thomas, 2008; Koronis et al.,
2013). This is mainly due to extensive research undertaken, its environmentally
friendly characteristics, low cost, and relatively good physical and mechanical proper-
ties, etc. (John and Thomas, 2008; Mohanty et al., 2000a). Conventional ﬁber-
reinforced polymer composites with high strength and stiffness have been widely

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