Design characteristics, codes and standards of natural fibre composites

Abstract

The pursuit towards achieving sustainable construction worldwide has spurred a great effort in improving current practices in the building and construction industry. The high involvement in terms of research and application of environmentally friendly raw materials for the industry is one of the showcases of the effort made in achieving this goal. One of the most promising sources of raw material, which can highly contribute to improve the environmental performance of current building materials, is natural fibre composites (NFC). NFC is acknowledged as a renewable and recyclable material and can also offer advantages such as low cost and high material availability and, most importantly, has low energy and greenhouse gas emission implications during use. In this chapter the involvement of NFC for a sustainable construction process is explained with a focus on the design characteristics, codes and standards. An overview of NFC for sustainable construction is explained with examples on various building and construction product applications. Furthermore, a new proposed design model involving NFC laminate for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is also included in this chapter. Finally, a case study on the applicability of the new design model is also demonstrated using kenaf fibre reinforced polymer (KFRP) composites. It is expected that the design model can serve as a reference to systematic and correct design practice for practitioners, involving the use of NFC in RC beams for building and construction applications.

Structural biomaterials engineered from lignocellulosic agricultural waste

“…Polymer/lignocellulose composites are applied as structural materials in several areas including building and construction, 26,46–48 automotive industry, 46,49,50 packaging, 31,46 and furniture production 26,46 . The performance of these composites is determined by their mechanical properties, therefore practical relevance can be judged only if these characteristics are analyzed thoroughly.…”

Coconut Fibre and Sawdust as Green Building Materials: A Laboratory Assessment on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Particleboards

“…As alternatives to concrete formulation, various sources of natural fibres are investigated, which can be separated into two categories: field or agricultural waste and product crops. Agriculture waste types of natural fibres used in the formulation of green concrete and other construction materials include coconut coir, rice husks, palm oil fuel ash, bagasse, wood chips, bamboo leaf ash, bananas, wheat straw, stroke, and sisal, as well as natural fibre from commodity crops such as kenaf, jute, and hemp [16].…”

“…The particleboards were manually formed in wooden formwork at top and stainless-steel frames at bottom with dimensions of 350 mm × 350 mm × T mm, where T is the particleboard thickness. The particleboard thicknesses used in this study are Buildings 2021, 11, 256 7 of 24 16 mm, 20 mm, and 32 mm. Boards measuring 350 mm × 350 mm were then hot-pressed for 7 min at 180 • C under 2.5 to 3.0 N/mm 2 strain.…”