Chemical treatments on plant-based natural fibre reinforced polymer composites: An overview

This paper provides a comprehensive overview on different surface treatments applied to natural fibres for advanced composites applications. In practice, the major drawbacks of using natural fibres are their high degree of moisture absorption and poor dimensional stability. The primary objective of surface treatments on natural fibres is to maximize the bonding strength so as the stress transferability in the composites. The overall mechanical properties of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites are highly dependent on the morphology, aspect ratio, hydrophilic tendency and dimensional stability of the fibres used. The effects of different chemical treatments on cellulosic fibres that are used as reinforcements for thermoset and thermoplastics are studied. The chemical sources for the treatments include alkali, silane, acetylation, benzoylation, acrylation and acrylonitrile grafting, maleated coupling agents, permanganate, peroxide, isocyanate, stearic acid, sodium chlorite, triazine, fatty acid derivate (oleoyl chloride) and fungal. The significance of chemically-treated natural fibres is seen through the improvement of mechanical strength and dimensional stability of resultant composites as compared with a pristine sample. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.