Natural fibers kenaf

For these circumstances, kenaf has recently gained a lot of attention as a reinforcing material [14]. With regards to technical utilization of natural fibers, kenaf-reinforced composites are one of the most important areas. They have successfully been widely incorporated in various applications. In the following section of this chapter, the overall characteristics of kenaf fiber as a reinforcing agent in polymer composites will be reviewed and discussed in detail [11]. 

As mentioned previously, the main bottleneck in the broad use of these fibers in thermoplastics is the poor compatibility between the fibers and the matrix. The inherent high moisture sorption of lignocellulosic fibers certainly has an effect on their dimensional stability [28]. This may lead to the microcracking of the composites and degradation of mechanical properties [28]. Like other natural fibers, kenaf absorbs moisture due to its hydrophilicity. The key issue related to the development and production of natural fiber-reinforced composites is the interfacial adhesion between the fiber and polymer matrix. Because of their inherent dissimilarities, natural fibers/polymer matrix composites are not compatible and interfadal adhesion in these composites tends to be poor. The weak bonding at the interfaces between natural fibers and polymer matrix is surely a critical cause of the reduction of useful properties and performance of the... 

The term wood-plastic composites (WPCs) refers to wood as a proxy for fibrous materials of plant origin. It can be wood flour or sawdust, or agricultural plant residues, typically cut, milled, or ground, or other types of natural fiber, such as hemp, jute, and kenaf, commonly as a by-product of the respective industrial process. 

Loading nose, 226, 232, 233, 236, 238, 239, 241, 242, 245, 253, 256, 265, 274 Long alkyl chain alkoxysilanes, 172 Long cellulose fiber, 79, 92, 98 Long natural fiber, 110 Abaca, 110 Bast fibers, 110 Cost of, no Cotton, 110 Flax, no Fruit fibers, 110 Hemp, no Henequen, 110 Jute, no Kenaf, 110 Leaf fibers, 110 Mesta, no Nettle, no Pineapple, 110 Ramie, 110 Seed fibers, 110 Sisal, no Stalk fibers, 110... 

Natural fibers can be classified as seed fibers (such as cotton), bast fibers (like flax, hemp, jute, kenaf, ramie), hard fibers (like sisal), fi-uit fibers (like coir), and wood fibers. The chemical composition and dimensions of some common agro-fibers are presented in Table 5.21. The origin of wood fibers can be sawmill chips, sawdust, wood flour or powder, cutter shavings, pulp or wood residues. As binders for these fibers, both thermosetting (like phenolic, epoxy, polyester) resins and thermosetting matrices [such as polyethylene (LDPE, HDPE), polypropylene (PP), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), polystyrene (PS)j can be used. Thermoplastic composites are, however, less expensive to process than thermosetting composites, in addition to their ability to be manufactured into complex shapes. 

The plants, which produce natural fibers, are classified as primary and secondary depending on their utilization. Primary plants are those grown for their fiber content while secondary plants are plants in which the fibers are produced as a by-product. Jute, hemp, kenaf, and sisal are examples of primary plants. Pineapple, oil palm, and coir are examples of secondary plants. 

Blending of PLA with natural fibers such as kenaf is another possibility by which PLA can be converted to end products using slightly modified standard industrial machinery for thermoplastics... 

One of the biggest new areas of research in the value-added area is in combining natural fibers with thermoplastics. Since the price of plastic has risen sharply over the past few years, adding a natural powder or fiber to plastics provides cost reduction to the plastic industry (and in some cases increases performance as well), but, to the jute and kenaf industry, this represents an increased value for the jute and kenaf component. 

Yussuf, A.A., Massoumi, I., Hassan, A. Comparison of polylactic acid/kenaf and polylactic acid/rise husk composites The influence of the natural fibers on the mechanical, thermal and biodegradability properties. J. Polym. Environ. 18(3), 422-429 (2010)... 

M. Zampaloni, F. Pourboghrat, S.A. Yankovich, B.N. Rodgers, J. Moore, L.T. Drzal, A.K. Mohanty, M. Misra, Kenaf natural fiber reinfOTced polypropylene composites a discussion on manufacturing problems and solutions. Compos. A Appl. Sci. Manuf. 38, 1569-1580 (2007)... 

The demand for better fuel efficiency based on the strict governmental regulations on safety and emission has led to the wide application of composites and plastics in the automotive industry in the place of the traditionally used steels [32]. Thermoplastic materials reinforced with natural fibers have reported to have excellent mechanical properties, recycling properties, etc. [33-36]. Several natural and biorenewable fibers such as wheat, isora, soybean, kenaf, straw, jute, and sisal are used in the fiber/plastic composite industry, and the use of namral fibers as reinforcements for composite has attracted many industries [37, 38]. Compared to polymer resin, polymer biocomposites that are reinforced with natural fibers have many applications due to its ease of processing, comparatively lower cost, and excellent mechanical properties [39]. For more than a decade, European car manufacturers and suppliers have been using natural fiber-based composites with thermoplastic and thermoset matrices. These biocomposites and bionanocomposites... 

Composites from natural fibres have not yet been fully established in high-tech industry because a sufficient quality for engineering applications is not adequately offered (e.g. by Natural Fiber Composites Inc. and North Wood Plastics). Fibres are available from many plants (highlighted of high quality) for example, wood, abaca, coir, cotton, flax, hemp, henequen, istle, jute, kenaf, ramie, sisal or sunn. 

Fiber reinforced composites can increase the scope of these materials and will increase applications in various arenas such as the automotive and packaging industries. Natural fibers such as kenaf, flax, jute, hemp, and sisal reinforced composites have been become attractive, because natural fibers have the advantages of low cost, low density, acceptable specific strength properties, ease of separation, carbon dioxide sequestration and biodegradabihty. 

Zampaloni M, Pourboghrat F, Yankovich S, Rodgers B, Moore J, Drzal LT, Mohanty AK, Misra M (2007) Kenaf natural fiber reinforced polypropylene composites a discussion on manufacturing problems and solutions. Compos A 38 1569-1580... 

Faruk et al. [3] classify the plants, which produce natural fibers, into two groups according to their utilization primary and secondary. Primary plants are grown for their fiber, while secondary plants are grown for other causes where the fiber is a byproduct. Primary plants include jute, hemp, kenaf, and sisal, etc. Some conventional examples of secondary plants are pineapple, oil palm and coir. Some novel secondary plant examples include corn, okra, nettle, etc. This chapter is focused on these novel secondary plants, which give fiber as a by-product and have been the subject of limited research endeavor in the literature so far. 

Polymers reinforced with cellulose fibers have received much attention in recent years because of their low density, nonabrasive, combustible, nontoxic, low cost and biodegradable properties. Several authors have reviewed recent advances in the use of natural fibers in composites like flax [ 1 ], jute [2,3], straw [4], kenaf [5,6], coir [7-9], fique [10], among others. Natural fibers have been used to reinforce thermoplastics and thermosets polymers in automotive and aerospace applications [11]. The influence of surface treatments of natural fibers on interfadal characteristics was also studied [12-17], and Joshi et al. [18] compared the life-cycle environmental performance of natural fiber composites with glass fiber composites. In this study, natural fiber composites were found to be environmentally superior in most applications. 

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