A review on mechanical behavior of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites and its applications

In the last decade, natural plant fibers (jute, sisal, coir, banana, hemp, kenaf, flax, etc.) are getting attention from many researchers and academicians to utilize it as an alternate reinforcement of synthetic fiber reinforced polymer composites. These fibers are becoming a great replacement of conventional fibers (such as glass, carbon, and aramid) due to their light weight, low cost, carbon neutrality, fairly good mechanical properties, high specific strength, and biodegradability characteristics. Some chemical treatments are required to enhance the fiber matrix interfacial strength and to minimize the moisture absorption by these fibers which would ultimately improve physico-mechanical properties of these fiber reinforced composites. This paper is a review on mechanical properties of the natural plant fiber reinforced polymer composites and various factors affecting the mechanical performance of it. The tribological behavior of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites and scanning electron microscope analysis are also discussed. Some mathematical models are mentioned which are useful to predict mechanical behavior of the composites. It is found that Halpin-Tsai equation is the most effective equation amongst others in predicting Young's modulus for short-fiber reinforced composites with minimum error. The applications of natural plant fiber reinforced polymer composites in various engineering fields are discussed.