Source: Textile Review
'Natural Fibres and their Technical
Applications: Research in IIT Delhi'
Natural fibres present important advantages such as low
density, appropriate stiffness and mechanical properties and high disposability
and renewability. Moreover, they are recyclable and biodegradable. There has
been lot of research on use of natural fibres in reinforcements. With the
increased consciousness on environmental problems and the demand of environment-friendly
fabric, natural fibres have received a great deal of attention.
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Automobile giant DaimlerChrysler has been using natural
fibres with extremely high tensile strength from the abaca banana plant in
the standard underbody cover for the spare-wheel compartment of the 3-door
version of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class model. They have also been using natural
fibres such as flax, hemp, sisal and coconut in the interior of Mercedes-Benz
passenger cars and commercial vehicles for many years.
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Natural fibres can be used as various products and can be
combined with synthetic (thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers) or natural
materials like PLA (Biocomposites) for various applications. In the past
decade, natural fibre composites have been developed, in which several natural
fibres such as ramie, hemp, jute, sisal, bamboo, banana, oil palm fibres, etc.
are used as reinforcements in place of glass fibres.
Life cycle environmental performance of natural fibre composites
compared with glass fibre reinforced composites show that the former are
environmentally superior in some specific applications for the following
reasons: (1) natural fibre production results in lower environmental impacts
compared to glass fibre production; (2) Natural fiber reinforced (NFR) composites
have higher fibre content for equivalent performance, which reduces the amount of
more polluting base polymers; (3) lower weight of NFR composites improves fuel efficiency
and reduces emissions during the use phase of the component, especially in auto
applications; and (4) end of life incineration of natural fibres results in
energy and carbon credits.
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Full Report
About
the Author
The author
is associated with the Department of Textile Technology, lIT Delhi
Originally
published in Textile
Review; June 2009- Vol 4- Issue-6
