Injection-molded natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites–a review

Abstract

For the last couple of decades, researchers have been trying to explore eco-friendly materials which would significantly reduce the dependency on synthetic fibers and their composites. Natural fiber-based composites possess several excellent properties. They are biodegradable, non-abrasive, low cost, and lower density, which led to the growing interest in using these materials in industrial applications. However, the properties of composite materials depend on the chemical treatment of the fiber, matrix combination, and fabrication process. This study gives a bibliographic review on bio-composites specially fabricated by the injection-molding method. Technical information of injection-molded natural fiber reinforcement-based composites, especially their type and compounding process prior to molding, are discussed. A wide variety of injection-molding machines was used by the researchers for the composite manufacturing. Injection-molded composites contain natural fiber, including hemp, jute, sisal, flax, abaca, rice husk, kenaf, bamboo, and some miscellaneous kinds of fibers, are considered in this study.