Composites reinforced with hollow natural organic fibrous structures

Abstract

Light-weight composites are preferred for automotive, aircraft, building, and other applications as they can provide better performance at lower weight per unit area. Reducing the weight of the composite also means using lesser materials which lowers costs. For several decades, attempts have been made to develop light-weight composites using aluminum and other metals. However, recent focus on the use of biodegradable and sustainable materials makes metallic materials undesirable for use. Agricultural residues and other organic biomass are renewable, sustainable, and available in abundance at low cost. Several of these residues and byproducts such as straw and feathers are light-weight and porous and ideally suited as reinforcement in composites. Composites have been developed using these hollow fibrous structures with the traditional synthetic polymer based matrices and also biodegradable matrices such as poly(lactic acid). Since natural materials are hydrophilic and synthetic polymers are hydrophobic, compatibilizers are necessary to improve properties. Injection and compression molding are the most common methods used to fabricate the composites. Natural hollow fibrous structures show good promise as reinforcements, but several challenges and limitations have to be overcome to enable commercial production and use of such composites feasible.