The world is in need of more eco-friendly material, therefore researchers around the globe focus on developing new materials that would improve the environmental quality of products. This need for new green materials has led to the utilization of composites made from raw natural fibers and polymer matrices, and this has become one of the most widely investigated research topics in recent times. Natural fiber composites are an alternative for replacing environmentally harmful synthetic materials and help control pollution problems. In addition, they are low cost, have better mechanical properties and require low production energy consumption. Also, using such materials in construction works, it is possible to improve the sustainability by eliminating construction wastes. Keeping in view all the benefits of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites, this paper first discusses various fabrication techniques employed for the production of these composites and then presents a detailed review of the research devoted to the analysis of their structure and properties by a variety of characterization techniques.
The present environmental regulations enforced by the government authorities have made the investigators around the globe to make use of more and more green materials particularly in composite systems. In this context, natural fibers play an important role and proven to be excellent reinforcements in polymer matrices. However, these natural fibers have got one major limitation: their incompatible hydrophilic behavior which affects their bonding with hydrophobic matrixes. Researchers over the years have come up with several fiber surface modification processes to overcome this defect. So, in this present study, the effect of various chemical treatments like alkaline, benzoyl peroxide, potassium permanganate, and stearic acid on Prosopis juliflora fibers has been discussed. These various chemical treatments on the fiber surfaces impacted on their structure, composition, and properties which were discovered through chemical analysis, Fourier transform-infrared, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and tensile testing.
The present world scenario demands for the utilization of natural fiber-reinforced polymeric composites as opposed to synthetic fiber-reinforced composites mainly due to their environmental friendly behavior, availability in abundance, cost-effectiveness, and lightweight and moderately high-strength properties. Along with the above said advantages, the ease of manufacturing of natural fibers has made the researchers around the globe to exploit several locally available natural fibers to understand their feasibility as reinforcement phases in different polymeric composites and their suitability in various commercial and engineering applications. This research investigation has been conducted to discover a better natural/synthetic fiber-reinforced polymer hybrid composite for commercial engineering applications. This research investigation intends to recognize the effect of laminate stacking sequence of Prosopis juliflora fibers (PJFs)/E-glass/carbon fabrics reinforced hybrid epoxy composites under five different composite designations. Manual hand layup method is used as the fabrication method, while studies on physical, mechanical, and morphological properties have been conducted in this research work. From the results obtained, it is obvious that the properties of PJFs/E-glass/carbon fabrics reinforced epoxy composites enhanced due to the hybridization with the addition of E-glass and carbon fabrics in PJFs and augments its suitability in the use of engineering structural applications.
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