Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Malaysia
  • 2 Sustainable Waste Management Research Group (SWAM), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
  • 3 Center for Defence Foundation Studies, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kem Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia
Polymers (Basel), 2021 Feb 02;13(3).
PMID: 33540731 DOI: 10.3390/polym13030471

Abstract

Over the last decade, the progressive application of natural fibres in polymer composites has had a major effect in alleviating environmental impacts. Recently, there is a growing interest in the development of green materials in a woven form by utilising natural fibres from lignocellulosic materials for many applications such as structural, non-structural composites, household utilities, automobile parts, aerospace components, flooring, and ballistic materials. Woven materials are one of the most promising materials for substituting or hybridising with synthetic polymeric materials in the production of natural fibre polymer composites (NFPCs). These woven materials are flexible, able to be tailored to the specific needs and have better mechanical properties due to their weaving structures. Seeing that the potential advantages of woven materials in the fabrication of NFPC, this paper presents a detailed review of studies related to woven materials. A variety of factors that influence the properties of the resultant woven NFRC such as yarn characteristics, fabric properties as well as manufacturing parameters were discussed. Past and current research efforts on the development of woven NFPCs from various polymer matrices including polypropylene, polylactic acid, epoxy and polyester and the properties of the resultant composites were also compiled. Last but not least, the applications, challenges, and prospects in the field also were highlighted.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.