ReviewCharacterization and properties of natural fiber polymer composites: A comprehensive review
Introduction
Natural fiber hybrid composites can be viable alternatives to synthetic fiber reinforced composites as structural or semi-structural components, especially in lightweight applications (Sathishkumar et al., 2014, Sanjay and Yogesha, 2017, Yusriah et al., 2014). Nowadays, replacing synthetic fibers with natural fibers in the automotive industry can yield economic, environmental and social benefits. This area of research continues to be of interest to engineers and professionals as natural fiber composites turning out to be an alternative solution to the ever depleting non-renewable sources (Hom et al., 2015, Karnani et al., 1997, Singleton et al., 2003, Zah et al., 2007). It has been found that these natural fiber composites possess better electrical resistance, good mechanical properties, good thermal and acoustic insulating properties, as well as higher resistance to fracture (Vijaya Ramnath et al., 2014, Sanjay et al., 2015, Sanjay et al., 2016a, Yelin et al., 2016).
In the past, natural fibers were used in building and structural applications. More recently, some cellulosic products and wastes have been used as fillers in polymers to achieve cost savings and to impart some desirable properties (Chawla and Bastos, 1979, Kokta, 1988, Lubin, 1982, Maldas and Kokta, 1995, Piggot, 1980, Prasad et al., 1983). Already explored industrial applications include window and door frames, furniture, railroad sleepers, automotive panels and upholstery, gardening items, packaging, shelves etc., applications in aerospace, leisure, construction, and sports, industries and, in general applications that do not require very high mechanical resistance, but, instead, reduce the purchasing and maintenance costs (Faris et al., 2014, Ku et al., 2011, La Mantia and Morreale, 2011). Recent work on natural fiber composites reveals that the specific mechanical properties of natural fiber composites are comparable to those of glass fiber reinforced composites. Natural fiber composites, in the form of panels, tubes, sandwich plates, have been used to replace wooden fittings, and fixtures, for furniture, and noise insulating panels in the last decade (Alves et al., 2010, Mei-po et al., 2011). The classification of natural fibers is presented in Fig. 1 and annual productions of natural fibers are tabulated in Table 1.
Fibers are used as reinforcement material in composites, which are converted into different forms, such as mats, rovings, yarns and fabrics (Oksman, 2001, Van de Weyenberg et al., 2006, Andersons and Joffe, 2011). To date, several manufacturing methods have been investigated to produce composites, such as film stacking, vacuum infusion, hand lay-up, compression moulding, filament winding, manual winding, resin transfer moulding, injection moulding, and pultrusion, to name a few (Khondker et al., 2006, Liu and Hughes, 2008, Oksman, 2001, Yan et al., 2012). While selecting a particular manufacturing method, various factors need to be considered, including raw material properties, size and shape of the composite, economics involved in the process etc. (Danni et al., 2014, Mei-po et al., 2011). Table 2 presents a literature survey on processing techniques of natural fiber reinforced composites. In this review, a collective effort has been made to survey research on various properties of natural fiber composites and on their characterization using FTIR, XRD, and thermogravimetric analyses.
Section snippets
Tensile properties
Our literature review reveals that, in general, natural fiber reinforced composites are reported to exhibit comparable mechanical properties with those of synthetic fiber ones. For example, Van de Velde and Kiekens, 2002, established that the mechanical properties of flax, hemp, jute and sisal fibers are very good, which makes them capable of competing with glass fiber as regards strength and modulus. Moreover, such assertions can be extended towards other types of natural fibers as well. For
Water absorption properties
Water absorption studies are carried out to determine the effect of moisture on the shape, debonding and loss of strength in the composites (Tserki et al., 2006). Azwa and Yousif, 2013, concluded that alkali treated kenaf fiber composites showed less moisture absorption of 3.85%, compared to untreated fiber composites of 6.38% correspondingly. This influenced the weight loss behavior of the fiber composites mainly due to heat exposure. Also, because of the minimal voids and hemicellulose
Thermal properties
Feng et al., 2001, reported that the use of maleated-polypropylenes (MAPP) in kenaf-fiber/polypropylene composites changed the crystallization and melting behavior of these blends. Joseph et al., 2003, carried out studies on the thermal and crystallization behavior of short sisal fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites. The thermal behavior of these composites was studied using Thermo-Gravimetry (TG) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The results revealed that fibers exhibited
Tribological properties
Friction and wear are two important tribological phenomena occurring during the relative motion of solid surfaces, which usually lead to dissipating energy and deteriorating materials (Emad et al., 2016). The tribological properties of phenol formaldehyde composites, with different volume fractions of sisal fiber, were investigated at high temperatures. The effect of different fiber contents on the coefficient of friction and the wear rate of sisal fiber/phenol formaldehyde composites was
FTIR, XRD and SEM characterization of natural fiber polymer composites
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is an effective analytical technique for determining the functional groups interacting within natural fiber and for characterizing their covalent bonding information. The infrared spectra corresponding to a variety of plant fibers are illustrated in Table 4.
FTIR analysis confirmed that the components of sugar palm starch/agar blend composites were compatible and intermolecular hydrogen bonds existed between them. Fig. 13 presents the FT-IR data for
Conclusion
Among various natural materials, natural fibers offer several advantages over synthetic materials in reinforcing composites, due to their biorenewable characteristic and eco-friendly behavior, and can be thus effectively utilized for various applications. In this regard, the present article deals with the study of reliabilty of natural fibers and their composites. To assess the reliability of natural fibers, our survey discusses various results reported in the published literature on the
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