Fiber biofiber

In most of the applications, general plants or vegetable fibers (biofibers) are used for the preparation of reinforced plastic materials. The commonly used biofibers... 

Cellulosic fiber reinforced polymeric composites find applications in many fields ranging from the construction industry to the automotive industry. The reinforcing efficiency of natural fiber is related to the namre of cellulose and its crystallinity. The main components of natural fibers are cellulose (a-cellulose), hemicelluloses, lignin, pectins, and waxes. For example, biopolymers or synthetic polymers reinforced with natural or biofibers (termed biocomposites) are a viable alternative to glass fiber composites. The term biocomposite is now being applied to a staggering range of materials derived wholly or in part from renewable biomass resources [23]. 

Low cost biofibers such as jute, sisal, hemp, flax, ramie, banana, coir, etc., have received considerable attention in the recent years. These materials have successfully replaced the synthetic fibers glass in particular and other mineral fillers for fabrication of biobased composites used for engineering applications in various sectors such as aerospace, automobile, electronics, packaging, construction, etc. 

Biofibers can be effectively reinforced within the polymeric matrices in different ways to achieve desired properties such as strength, stiffness, low density, and sound damping, along with eco-friendly characteristics and texture in the composites. The use of biofibers for various commercial applications originated back in the 1990 s. Owing to low prices and the steadily rising performance of technical and standard plastics, the application of these fibers... 

Biopolymers Biomedical and Environmental Applications Table 9.1 Comparative properties of biofibers and conventional man-made fibers [9],... 

Gatenholm et al. [23] studied the nature of adhesion in the composites of modified cellulose fibers and pol)q>ropylene. Biofibers were surface-modified... 

Degradation and Flammability Behavior of Biofiber Composites and Biofiber/Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Hybrid Composites... 

Water absorption results of neat UPE and its composites reinforced with raw, mercerized and benzoylated fibers have been shown in Table 13.1. It can be seen from the table that water absorption characteristics of polymer composites depend upon the content of fiber loadings, water immersion time and surface modification techniques. The water absorption of raw and surface-modified fiber-reinforced UPE composites has been found to increase with the increase in percent loading. Similar results were also reported by Rashdi et ah during their studies on the water absorption behavior of kenaf fibers-reinforced polyester composites [27]. This may be due to greater affinity of water for OH groups present on the fiber backbone, whose number increases with the increase in fiber contents. In comparison to raw filler, composites reinforced with surface-modified filler exhibited low water absorption, which may be due to the reduction in the hydrophilic character of cellulosic biofibers after surface modification. 

T. Corbiere-Nicolher, B.G. Laban, L. Lundquist, Y. Leterrier, J.-A.E. Manson, and O. Jolliet, Life cycle assessment of biofibers replacing glass fibers as reinforcement in plastics. Resour. Conserv. Recy. 33(4), 267-287 (2001). 

Martinez-Hemandez AL, Velasco-Santos C (2012) Keratin fibers from chicken feathers structure and advances in polymer composites. Nova Publishers, New York, pp 149-211 Martinez-Hemandez AL, Velasco-Santos C, de-Icaza M, Castano VM (2007) D5mamical-mechanical and thermal analysis of polymeric composites reinforced with keratin biofibers from chicken feathers. Compos Part B Eng 38 405 10 Mathew AP, Dufresne A (2002) Morphological investigation of nanocomposites from sorbitol plasticized starch and tunicin whiskers. Biomacromolecules 3 609-617 Md. Islama S, Hamdana S, Talibb ZA, Ahmeda AS, Md. Rahmana R (2012) Tropical wood polymer nanocomposite (WPNC) The impact of nanoclay on dynamic mechanical thermal properties. Compos Sci Technol 72 1995-2001... 

Singha AS, Thakur VK (2009a) Chemical resistance, mechanical and physical properties of biofibers-based polymer composites. Polym Plast Technol Eng 48 736-744 Singha AS, Thakur VK (2009b) Grewia optiva Fiber Reinforced Novel, low cost polymer composites. J Chem 6 71-76... 

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