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Natural fibre’s significance is increasing day by day, and researchers are still looking for new ones to prove that these have better properties than the existing fibres. Few of them have better properties, and others show their presence to the world. Similarly, volume and the utilization number of composite materials with these fibres may also have developed consistently at the same time. These fibres can be man-made or naturally available materials separated by various possible and availability methods. The primary role behind the preference given to fibres is cost and ease of availability. This paper mainly discussed the different natural fibres and their extraction methods, their compositions, the impact of various alkali treatments on fibre properties, and their applications in multiple fields. Apart from this, mechanical and thermal characterization techniques and their working conditions on numerous fibres; the hybridization with natural/natural fibres or natural with glass fibres into different positions, orientations, and their impact on properties had also been discussed. This detailed study conferred the work reported on natural fibres and included synthetic fibres during hybridization. It may have an advantage for many researchers for further research, whether in terms of improving techniques or increasing the utilization scope of these fibres.

This chapter will provide an insight into smart materials, which are a class of materials that can change their physical properties, such as shape, size, stiffness, color, or electrical conductivity, in response to external stimuli, such as temperature, pressure, light, humidity, magnetic, or electric fields. Various types of smart materials like shape memory alloys (SMAs), electroactive polymers (EAPs), piezoelectric materials, magnetostrictive materials, and thermoelectric materials were discussed in this chapter, along with their properties and applications. Nevertheless, the advantages of smart materials over the conventional materials along with the challenges were also discussed. Also, the possibility of integrating these materials with the existing systems was discussed.