Abstract


India, endowed with an abundant availability ofnatural fibres which can be termed as green fibres such as jute, coir, sisal,pineapple, ramie, bamboo, banana etc., has focused on the development of greencomposites primarily to explore value-added application avenues. Such naturalfibre composites are well suited as wood substitutes in the housing &construction sector. The development of natural fibre composites in India is based on a two-pronged strategy of preventing depletion of forest resources aswell as ensuring good economic returns for the cultivation of naturalfibres. 


Jute & coir based composites have beendeveloped as substitutes for plywood & medium density fibre boards. Panel& flush doors have also been developed out of these composite boardsespecially for low-cost housing needs. Other product development activitiesinclude usage of sisal fibre based composites as panel & roofing sheets.Incorporation of glass with jute brings about large increases in mechanicalproperties of composites. The green composites can be very cost-effectivematerial especially for building & construction industry (panels, falseceilings, partition boards etc.), packaging, automobile & railway coachinteriors and storage devices.


Use of composites made from natural fibres likejute, sun hemp, coir, flax, bamboo etc. is becoming popular day by day. Toprevent de-forestation there is a wide scope and strong need to replace timberproduct such as plywood, blockboard, particle boards, medium density fibre boardsetc. with some cheap, abundantly available and relatively easy to processmaterial. As jute is also lignocellulosic in nature like wood, jute compositesare used as substitute for these products.


Jute composites can replace conventional glassfibre reinforced thermoses which are normally used in our day to day life.Various properties of natural fibres composite like water absorption, tensilestrength, and flexural strength are compared and discussed. Fields ofapplication of composite made from natural fibres are highlighted.


This paper also deals with various compositesmade by using flax, coir and bamboo fibres. The potential of such compositesare discussed in this paper.


 

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About the Authors:


The Authors are students of D.K.T.E,Ichalkaranji.



This paper was also presented at event under national level grand fiesta PRAGYAA-2010 Department of Textile Technology of &sec=article&uinfo=<%=server.URLEncode(2461)%>">S G G S I E &T., Nanded.