Application of Natural Fibers in Environmental Friendly Products

Abstract

Environmental friendly raw materials and products are the need of the hour for manufacturing products which will not pollute the environment during production, during its life time and also after the product serves its useful life. Products dumped in the landfill after retirement should not pollute the environment but should be capable of going through the degradation process without affecting the ecological system. The application of natural fibers is an emerging area in material science which provides solution to this problem. This paper presents various types of fibers from natural resources and their applications in automotive parts, furniture, buildings and construction sectors. Semi-structural parts made of bio-composites are used in automobiles, aero planes, military applications, railway coaches and boats. The paper emphasizes that awareness must be created among product designers to recognize the advantages of bio-composites for extending these composites for designing many more products.