A Review of Current Development in Natural Fiber Composites in Automotive Applications

Abstract

Nowadays, natural fiber is an interesting option and it is the most widely applied fiber in composite technology. The natural fibers are used in most of the industries and are increasingly being considered as reinforcements for polymer-matrix composites because they are perceived to have sustainability value. This research paper aims to enlighten the existing development in natural fiber composites in automotive applications. Additionally, this research paper reviews the related papers from the year 2006 until 2013. Finally, a summary of selected products that have been identified by car manufacturers were identified.

Review of natural fiber-reinforced engineering plastic composites, their applications in the transportation sector and processing techniques

“…25,109 The wide range of applications is because of natural fiber's low specific weight, abundancy, low cost, good mechanical properties, biodegradability, renewability, low energy consumption in production, and good corrosion and fatigue resistance compared to synthetic fibers such as glass, carbon, and aramid, which are less biodegradable and derived from nonrenewable sources. 3,19,25,[109][110][111] A brief comparison of natural fibers with glass and carbon fibers is shown in Table 7. Natural fibers have higher specific strength than glass fiber and equivalent specific modulus.…”

“…Thus, the efficiency of composites depends on the interface between fiber and polymer matrix. 5,25,111,114 Another disadvantage of NFRP composites is the high water absorption of natural fibers. This is more prevalent in the natural fibers with greater cellulose content such as sisal, flax, and hemp due to the hydrophilic nature of cellulose.…”

Natural Fibers as Viable Sources for the Development of Structural, Semi-Structural, and Technological Materials – A Review

“…This was intended as replacement tothe costly and non-biodegradable plastic fibers. Also, Norhidayah et al, [12] reported that various car parts such as dash board, car roof, door handle and car door panels can be developed using the hybrid reinforced composite because of the observed excellent properties. It was reported that automobile industries make use of kenaf, hemp, flax, sisal and jute mixed with polypropylene or polyester in the development of automotive seat backs, headliners, door panels and pillars.…”

“…Most of the leading automobile manufacturers use composites reinforced with natural fibers in making products like seat backs, door panels, noise insulation panels, spare-tyre linings [11]. It has been acknowledged that a very good way of increasing fuel efficiency without compromising safety is to make use of natural fiber reinforced composites in the body of cars in order to achieve weight reduction [12]. Also, the use of materials developed among natural fibers has been reported to record a significant reduction in the final cost of production [13].…”

Nonsingular crack modelling in orthotropic plates by four equivalent single layers

“…Anisotropic composites (Chaudhuri and Balaraman, 2007; Czig any and De ak, 2012; M esz aros et al, 2013) are often utilized in air-, spacecraft (Smojver and Ivan cevi c, 2010;Ivan cevi c and Smojver, 2011; Ivan cevi c, 2011, 2012;Langdon et al, 2014) and sport industry (Jiang, 2014;Li and Jing, 2014;Su, 2014;Zhang, 2014;Tang, 2014), composite panels are also applied in cars and vehicles (Norhidayah et al, 2014;Wennberg and Stichel, 2014;Khan et al, 2014), ships (Chirica et al, 2011;Chirica, 2013), pressure vessels (Gheshlaghi et al, 2006 and many other engineering applications (Goch et al, 2012). The mechanical behavior of laminated composite plates and shells can be described by different theories.…”