Description:
This book comprises seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides general information
about composite materials. Important aspects of tropical natural fibres are presented in Chap. 2, which include advantages and disadvantages of natural
fibres, description of seven selected tropical natural fibres, and typical applications
of tropical natural fibres. The drive for ‘green’ materials has triggered the need for
inclusion of a chapter titled biopolymers. Biopolymers can be used as matrices for
natural fibres along with synthetic polymers. In Chap. 4, mechanical properties,
which include tensile, flexural and impact properties of natural fibre composites
are presented. New topic on the design of tropical natural fibre composite products
is given in Chap. 5. Possible manufacturing techniques for natural fibre composites
are included in Chap. 6. Finally, a brief chapter on selected products developed
from tropical natural fibre composites can be found in Chap. 7.