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CHAPTER 18:
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BRAZILIAN

NATURAL FIBERS AND THEIR
COMPOSITES WITH OTHERS
Satyanarayana G. KESTUR
Luiz P. RAMOS
Fernando WYPYCH
Department of Chemistry, Post Box 19081, Federal University of Parana,
Jardim das Americas, CEP: 81531-990, Curitiba – PR - Brasil.
This Chapter presents the source and availability of plant fibers in Brazil and some
other countries. A comparison of chemical, physical and mechanical properties of
these fibers is made together with their morphologies as reported elsewhere.
Various surface treatments including steam explosion for the preparation of
composites, fabrication methodologies for both polymer and ceramic matrix
composites as well as their morphological studies and properties will be discussed.
Product developments based on these studies will be presented along with
concluding remarks.
Keywords: Plant fibers, Brazil, availability, extraction, morphology and properties, fractography, surface
treatment, polymers, cement, composites, biodegradable, applications.
1. INTRODUCTION
Brazil has a unique position among the South American countries occupying
approximately 50% of this region, with an area of about 8.5 million km2. Of this,
about 5-6% are arable lands, 22% are permanent pastures and 58% are forests
and woodlands [1]. This makes this country to be 5th in terms of area in the world
and about 2.6 times that of India, with which this country can be compared in many
ways particularly with respect to natural resources. It is well known that natural
resources play dominant role in the economic activities of any country and hence
contribute substantially to its gross domestic product (GDP). This also contributes
to the social and economic development in the case of developing countries such
as Brazil.
The increased use of natural materials therefore becomes important for these
countries through the development of new processes and products.
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S. Kestur, L.P. Ramos, F. Wypych
This in turn not only helps in preventing environmental pollution, which would be
caused by the disposing of these resources without proper use, but also in
generating employment, particularly in rural sector as well as better standards of
living. Plant based materials, which are available to the extent of about 2.5 billion
tons and have been used since more than 6000 BC [2] is one such. Table 1 [3]
shows some of the plant based materials that are available, their main source,
available quantity and the countries where these plants are grown.
Table 1. Fiber source, country and annual production of plant fibers. Adapted from ref. 3.
Fiber Source World Origin Country

Production
(103 tonnes)
Abaca 70 Leaf Malaysia,Uganda, Philippines, Bolivia, Brazil
Bamboo 10,000 Stem Africa, India, Brazil
Banana 200 Stem Africa, India, Brazil
Broom Abundant Stem
Coir 100 Fruit India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil.
Cotton Lint 18,500 Stem India, Europe, USA
Elephant Grass Abundant Stem India, Africa
Flax 810 Stem Europe
Hemp 215 Stem Yugoslavia, China
Jute 2,500 Stem India, Egypt, Guyana, Jamaica, Ghana, Malawi,
Sudan, Tanzania, Brazil
Kenaf 770 Stem Iraq, Tanzania, Jamaica
Linseed Abundant Fruit USA
Nettles Abundant Stem Europe
Oil Palm Fruit Abundant Fruit Malyasia, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Phillipines
Palmyrah Abundant Stem India
Ramie 100 Stem Honduras, Mauritius
Roselli 250 Stem Borneo, Guyana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Togo,
Indonesia, Tanzânia
Rice Husk Abundant Fruit/grain India, Japan, Brazil, others
Rice Straw Abundant Stem India, Japan, Brazil, others
Sisal 380 Leaf EastAfrica, Bahamas, Antigua, Kenya,
Tanzania, India, Brazil
Sun Hemp 70 Stem Nigeria, Guyana, Sieraleone, India
Wheat Straw Abundant Stem USA, Brazil, India, Canada
Wood 1,750,000 Stem All Countries
Thus it becomes evident that these renewable resources are available abundantly
in almost all countries of the world. In recent times, greater attention is paid to the
use of natural materials in view of the increasing cost of non-renewable petroleum
based matrix and reinforcements, which are used in the synthesis of composite
materials. Besides, it is also interesting to note that the time taken for producing
such fossil based materials from biomass is about 106 years (geological time)
compared to 1-10 years of their conversion [4]. The cost of petroleum-based
materials is also continuously increasing along with persisting environmental
degradation due to the increasing release of CO2. Figure 1(a) shows the global
carbon cycle towards sustainability. Hence the commercial exploitation of these
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Comparative Study Of Brazilian Natural Fibers And Their Composites With Others
resources in the world scenario is in the right direction in line with the current
thinking for the growth and production of those resources and technologies. This
evidently leads to all developments leading to higher growth of employment and
the national economy. Figure 1(b) shows possible utilization of biomass through
different pathways.
Figure 1(a). Global carbon cycle towards sustainability. Reproduced from ref. 4 with the kind
permission of the author.
RECYCLABLE DISPERSANTS AND

PLASTICS FLOCULATING AGENTS
SUBSTRATES FOR
FERMENTATION PULP, PAPER AND
(biomolecules) TEXTILE FIBERS
POLYMER BLENDS RENEWABLE

AND FILMS ENERGY
(biofuels)
PLANT
BIOMASS
INSULATING POLYMER
MATERIALS RESINS
ADDITIVES AND
ANIMAL FEED
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
AND FERTILIZERS
CARBON FIBERS BUILDING

MATERIALS
Figure 1(b). Possible utilization of biomass through different pathways.
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It is noteworthy to understand that all governments take necessary steps towards

the utilization of their resources through their funding agencies. For example, in
Brazil, the Brazilian Farming Research Commission (EMBRAPA) and the National
Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq) are some of the main
agencies which fund to find means and ways for the utilization of its rich renewable
natural resources for fibers such as banana, curauá, pineapple fibers, etc. It is well
known that these fibers present a vast diversity of applications considering their
unique properties, possibility for mass production at affordable cost, while
contributing to the biodegradation and renewal of the ecological cycle. Other
countries also have similar objectives. Further, it is also gratifying to note that
probably Brazil may be the only country to conduct five international conferences
consecutively on natural resources dealing with lignocellulosic fibers and their
composites till to date [5-9] with Brazilian composite researchers constituting about
12% of the 235 Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Groups in the country, who
work in different aspects of lignocellulosic fibers. Another point to be noted is the
international trends in the search of potentials of lignocellulosic fiber. These include
establishment of these fibers in automotive sector with commercial production and
use of some parts [10-21] and also in building sector [22,23]; European countries
passing laws to have ‘end of life’ of vehicles, which require use up to 95%
recyclable materials by 2015 [24] and also their parliament’s approval for more
than 80% recyclable rate for automotive materials during the year (2006) [25];
possibility for the use of composites based on these fibers as structural members in
automotives [12]; and finally, possibility of producing quality fibers suitable for
different applications through better cultivation including genetic engineering and
treatment methods to get uniform properties [26]. In addition, these fibers have
many merits for their use in composite technology as shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Merit list for the use of plant fiber incorporated composites
Non-brittle fracture on impact

Same performance for lower weight
Stronger (25-30%) for the same weight
Low cost - less than the base resin
Fully and easily recyclable
Reduced molding cycle time - up to 30%
Non-abrasive to machinery
Natural appearance
Low thermal expansion coefficient
Good sound abatement capability
Better energy management characteristics
More shatter resistant
Low mold shrinkage
Easily colored
High flex modulus - up to 5X base resin
High tensile modulus - up to 5X base resin
High notched impact - up to 2X base resin
Lower processing energy requirements
Meets minimum recycle content requirements
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Thus, the utilization of these fibers has both short-term objectives through the
synthesis and characterization of composites and long-term objectives to use them
as alternates for synthetic fibers and possible substitute for wood. This has driven
the world to bring out consolidated data on the source and availability of all the
useful lignocellulosic fibers, cataloguing their available information on morphology
and properties as well as current uses. Some examples of such published data can
be found in references [5-11,15-17,27-33]. These may open up new avenues of
research in many countries leading to greater opportunities and challenges,
exciting scenarios for natural resources and help their large scale utilization.
In this Chapter an attempt is made to compare the natural sources (particularly for
reinforcements) of Brazil with the rest of the world in terms of extraction methods
and production of fibers from these, characterization and utilization especially in the
synthesis of composite materials, study of morphology and properties of such
composites as well as product developments. Since this book contains specific
chapters on various types of composites [thermoplastic, thermoset, “green” and
nanocomposites], brief discussions on the composites in respect of their
fabrication, morphology, properties and product development as well as their
applications are given here. Concluding remarks are given at the end indicating
some future direction of work with a view to motivate the readers and researchers
to explore the future potentials of these natural resources, a contribution towards
national development.
2. FIBERS AND COMPOSITES
2.1. Source and Extraction Methods of Fibers

The resources for lignocellulosic fibers are available in all parts of the world, with
some of them being abundant in tropics. These include banana, coconut, curauá,
jute, malva, palmyrah, piaçava, pineapple, sugarcane, sisal, and talipot. Figure 2(a-j)
shows photographs of some of these both in Brazil and elsewhere. Of these,
curauá, Luffa cylindrica, malva and piaçava are special fibers of Brazil. Primary
production of lignocellulosic fibers all over the world was estimated in 2000 to be
2x1011 tons compared to 1.5x108 tons of synthetic polymers [33], while the
estimated fibrous raw materials from agricultural crops in 2004 were about 2.5x109
tons [2]. All plant fibers are classified broadly into three types depending on the
part from which they are extracted. They are bast/bark/stem fibers
(banana/jute/malva/sugarcane), leaf fibers (curauá, pineapple, sisal) and fruit/seed
fibers (coir). Figure 3(a-f) shows their extraction methods, while Figure 4(a-h)
shows photographs of banana sheath and also some of the other fibers [34-41].
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Figure 2. Photographs of resources of plant fibers: (a) banana; (b) jute; (c) malva; (d) palmyrah;
(e), piaçava; (f) curauá; (g) pineapple; (h) sisal; (i) coconut; (j) Luffa cylindrica.
Figure 3. Extraction methods of plant fibers:(a) decorticator used for banana, jute, pineapple;
(b) periquita used for curauá, jute; (c) retting used for coir; (d) manual extraction used for coir
(e) mechanical extractor for coir; (f) splitting using knife for malva, palmyrah, talipot, piaçava.
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Figure 4. Photographs of various plant fibers: (a) long sheaths of banana plant; (b) jute; (c) malva
(d) piaçava; (e) curauá; (f) sisal; (g) coir; (h) Luffa cylindrica.
It is known that successive governments not only in Brazil but also all over the
world give special attention to agricultural policies, although the expectations of
small farmers may not always be met. In the case of Brazil, one can see increased
cultivable land for fiber yielding crops over the years only with the development of
new techniques and improvement of different varieties of cultivation through
EMBRAPA [1]. Increase in the production of one of the fibers called curauá, native
of north of Brazil, is an example of this. Some of the plants are grown in Brazil on
permanent or on temporary basis depending on their importance for the economic
contribution to the country, which is reflected in a significant increase in the
cultivated land for fiber yielding plantations [42]. Also, own initiative of farmers
through agricultural cooperatives is another interesting feature in Brazil leading to
some of the cultures of plantations with higher productivity. Besides, increased
mechanization is practiced in this country, which has led to the availability of large
quantity of these fibers in the market despite total fiber processed is lower in
relation to the total quantity of their sources available. Amongst the conventional
fiber resources, cotton is grown in both permanent and also on temporary lands,
while coconut, banana and sisal are grown on permanent lands and the rest only
on temporary lands. Table 3 shows the productivity of various fiber sources in
Brazil during the last five years. There is negative variation for pineapple
production during years 2003-2005. This is attributed to the decrease in the
availability of land for the pineapple cultivation and also the two types of pineapple
cultivation practiced in the country [43].
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Table 3. Productivity of various fiber sources in Brazil (2000-2004). Adapted from ref. 42.
Productivity (kg/Hectare)
Product Year
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Cotton P 579 321 530 459 410 423
T 2504 3021 2848 3086 3302 2913
Coconut P 4924 5197 6971 7081 7285 7157
(Fruits/Ha)
Banana P 11008 12105 12769 13346 13407 13647
Sisal – Fiber P 1000 889 844 843 853 862
Jute (Fiber) T 1197 1371 1478 1418 1537 1424
Malva (Fiber) 1582 1220 1473 1398 1454 1614
T
Pineapple T 22114 22845 23447 24833 24969 24735
(Fruits/Ha)
Ramie (Fiber) 2163 2248 2871 2562 2218 2148
T
Rice (Fiber) 3038 3240 3324 3248 3556 3369
T
Sugarcane T 67878 69443 71442 73731 73726 72854
P: Permanent; T: Temporary.
The Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) normally updates similar data for other
countries and hence these are not given here. Some details about the fiber content
and their extraction procedure are given below. Different methods are used for the
extraction of different types of plant fibers irrespective of their origin. Normally
manual methods are used to extract most of the plant fibers. In the mechanical
method, machines called “decorticators” (Figure 3(a)) are used for some of the
fibers such as banana, sisal, flax, jute, etc. Special machine called “periquita”
(Figure 3(b)) is used in Brazil for curauá and sisal fibers, while retting process
(keeping the stems or husks in river or sea water for sometime whereby the
external covers become loose enabling ease of fiber extraction) (Figure 3(c))
followed by beating with wooden mallet (Figure 3(d)) is used for coir, jute, flax, etc.
Use of knife to slit the stems (Figure 3(f)) and then beating them by wooden mallet
as in the case of coir (Figure 3(d)) is used to get fibers like palmyrah, talipot, malva
and piaçava. Other method of extraction of natural fibers used is microbial method
as in the case of flax and coir. However, due to some reasons such as longer time
involved, this method has been scarcely used compared to the other two methods
mentioned.
Banana fiber (a stem fiber) is produced in many countries of which India, Ecuador
and Brazil are the leading countries with Brazil being the third largest producer
[43,44]. Figure 1(a) shows the banana plant. The pseudo stems of this are usually
200-370mm in diameter. They consist of many layers having longitudinal fibers (of
about 24% pseudo stem). Normally, the pseudo stem is thrown after harvest and is
used for solid mulching particularly in Brazil. This has long sheaths (Figure 4(a))
with the layers having different widths. While only 2% of about 6.6 million tons of
biomass produced annually by these plantations is used by the artisans in Brazil, a
higher production of about 10% is used in countries such as India due to its use not
only by the artisans but also as energy source and other industrial uses [1].
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Generally, banana fibers (bast) are extracted manually (though decorticators

shown in Figure 3(a) are available) from the pseudo stems and the average fiber
yield is 1-2% on dry basis. In recent times, a mechanical decorticator was
developed in Brazil for the extraction of fibers whereby the fiber yield reported [44]
is about 1.75kg of the fiber on dry weight basis per man-hour, making cost of the
fiber to be US$0.89 per kg. While India and Bangladesh are the major countries
producing jute fibers, another stem fiber, this source was introduced into Brazil
between 1950 and 1980, but its cultivation (Figure 1(b)) has been discontinued for
some time [45]. The country produced this fiber (Figure 4(b)) in adequate quantities
in early nineties with its production decreasing to about one fourth there after and it
has risen to half of its value in 1990 [42].
Malva plant [35](Figure 1(c), which produces bast fibers, are mostly found in Brazil
with Amazon being the largest producer. The plants grow to about three meters in
about 8 months time. Extraction of fibers from these plants is similar to that of jute,
where the stems of the plants are cut and tied into bunches. These are then kept
under the water for about 7-8 days to soften them [36] as done in the case of flax,
jute and coir [Figure 3(c)]. Then, the outer cover is pulled to separate the fibers,
followed by the sun drying. This is shown in Figure 4(c).
Other stem/stalk fibers include palmyrah, talipot of India and piaçava, a special
plant of Brazil. These sources are shown in Figure 2(d, e). The latter is grown in
Atlantic rain forest of the country where about 300 trees per hectare are grown on
an average in a natural field [37]. Since these trees need very low financial
resources for planting, maintenance and exploitation, they become an attractive
agricultural option with reduced risks and high incomes to the investor, while it is
profitable to all others involved in this fiber activity. This plantation gives an income
better than that obtained from the perennial cultures such as rubber, cocoa and
coconut in the country [37].
Fibers are extracted manually from leaf stalks of palmyrah, talipot [39] and piaçava,
also known as piassava fibers; details of the process can be seen in Ref. [1]. In
short, for all these types of palm fibers, stalks are picked at appropriate time (for
example in Brazil, it is once a year preferably between March and September) and
using long knives the stalks are pierced [Figure 3(f)] and sometimes beaten with a
mallet similar to that done with coir [Figure 3(c)] to get the fibers. Piaçava fibers of
Brazil, which are normally 4m long and 1.1mm width, are cleaned, brushed, and
sorted out (Figure 4(d)) on the basis of length and tied into bales with variable
weights. Longer fibers are made into bales, which are exported to various countries
such as USA and Europe and even to some South American countries, while the
shorter fibers (called ‘stubs’) are used in the country as industrial brooms.
Palmyrah fibers are shown in Figure 4(e).
Among the leaf fiber resources, sisal, pineapple and curauá (Figure 2(f-h)), the
latter two belong to the same family. Thailand, Philippines and Brazil are first three
largest producers of pineapple fiber with about 7% of the total world fiber
production coming from Brazil [34,46-48]. Brazil has two types of pineapple
farming. In the first, the plants are cut after the first crop leaving the stems for the
next crop, while having fresh crop by the side. This would bring down the
investment cost with lower fiber yield. In the second method, only fresh plantations
are grown. Mostly the fibers of pineapple and curauá are extracted using machines
called decorticators. Some developments in this for pineapple fibers are reported
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recently [49]. In the case of pineapple about 40-60 leaves are available per plant;
each leaf weighing about 0.065kg can yield 2% fiber per leaf. On the other hand,
each curauá plant yields about 50-60 leaves per annum. The dimension of each
leaf is about 1-1.5m long, 4-5cm wide with about 5mm thickness and it yields about
8% fiber on dry weight basis. This fiber ranks third in the economical analysis in the
country, fourth in stiffness and thus it is the most competitive among the traditional
Brazilian fibers [50]. On the other hand, sisal belonging to agave family has
different species with African countries Kenya and Tanzania, being the second and
third world producers of this fiber [45]. Brazil grows the Agave sislana variety,
which accounts for about 50% of world market in recent times. In this case, each
leaf contains 700-1400 technical fibers of length 50-100cm, which show horseshoe
cross section [51,52].
In earlier times, the leaf fibers were generally extracted manually in all the
countries of their origin. For example, in Brazil the process called “forca” (meaning
hanger) was used [50]. In this the leaves were first washed and then beaten using
a rod followed by storing them in water for about 36 hrs for ‘mercerizing’ before
they were again washed and dried [35]. In recent years, most of these are
extracted using machines also called decorticators such as the one shown in
Figure 3(a). The particular machine used in Brazil for sisal and curauá fibers, called
“periquita”, is shown in Figure 3(b), while Figure 4(e) shows curauá fibers.
Coir, cotton and sponge-gourd fibers may be considered as belonging to fruit/seed
fiber category. Figure 2(i,j) shows the resource for coir and luffa cylindrica. In the
case of coir (coconut fibers), it is normally extracted mechanically in decorticators
(Figure 3(e)) using matured coconuts. While in India it is mostly extracted manually
from matured coconuts after retting the husks for 8-10 months particularly in
Kerala, the major producer of coconuts in the country, Brazil (mostly grown in North
and Northeast regions) uses green coconuts mostly collected from beaches under
the EMBRAPA´s social program “Poverty and Environment in the Amazon”
(POEMA). The country produces about 1.5 billion coconut annually [43] mainly in
the northeast region at 140 per tree [45] compared to the world record of 120
fruits/year in several countries of Asia and of Africa [10,53]. Brazil uses the German
Technology for the improvement of the fiber due to the investments received from
abroad and also from the government. About 1.2 million nuts / month produce
about 8 tons of coir fiber (Figure 4(g)) by extracting the fibers within 3 days of the
collection of husks or by "retting" wherein the green nuts are kept under water for
2-4 months and then fibers are extracted from these as being done in India.
On the other hand, cotton fiber, which forms 46% of the world production of natural
and chemical fibers, is an important textile fiber. It contributes to 57% of the
Brazilian production of natural and chemical fibers and 93% of the national
production of natural fibers including wool, rami, silk and jute [54]. Sponge-gourd
fibers, another special fibers of Africa and Brazil, are produced by a plant (Luffa
cylindrica) belonging to generic group of eight species known as “vegetable
sponges”, which are perennial and trailing herbs [40,41,55-57]. Figure 2(j) [40]
shows this plant and the fruit from which the fibers are extracted. These fibers
(Figure 4(h)) are multi-directionally arranged and entangled around a beehive like
structure of the nucleus (Figure 4(h)) [40,41,55-61] of the Luffa fruits, which are 15-
25cm long oblong-cylindrical, green smooth, with numerous black, gray or medium
brown color on their skin and contain seeds. But for the manual extraction method
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used to produce the fibers, any scientific method is yet to be developed. However,
some of the practical advantages of this fiber include no need for the reinforcement
preparation for incorporation into polymers to prepare composites, since it is
available in the form of mat and change in failure mode of its composites from
abrupt to controlled type [61].
Bagasse is the byproduct of sugar industry with sugarcane being grown mainly in
Brazil, Cuba, India, China, Thailand and Australia. Sugarcane has great potential
for the short and medium terms of power generation in Brazil unlike in many other
countries. Cultivating it as a tropical plantation [62,63], Brazil is one of the largest
world producers of sugarcane [64]. The bagasse produced in the country is
reported to be 101 Mt from 340 Mt of sugarcane [65] considering the bagasse
content to be 30% and moisture content to be 50% [1] while in India, it is reported
that 60 million tonnes of sugar cane produces about 18 million tonnes of bagasse
along with 6.1 tonnes of sugar [66]. About 90% of bagasse is used as fuel.
Similarly, bamboo, which also forms one of the sources for lignocellulosic materials
for use in the development of composite materials, is mostly grown in subtropical
and temperate zones. Brazil grows more than about 80 varieties of bamboo.
Other plant fibers/materials available for use in composites are straws of rice,
wheat as well as rice husk ash. It is reported that the rice husk produced is about
25% of the total rice production [67] and the straw may account for good
percentage, both of which may be useful in the development of useful products
such as active carbon, in cement and composites [68].
2.2. Composites
It is well now known that both synthetic and natural (lignocellulosic/plant) fibers are
used in polymer and cement matrices to fabricate composite materials. First
example of composites with plant fibers dates back to 200 BC, when watchtowers
of the far Western Great wall of China were built with straw reinforced bricks by
Han Dynasty in China in 200 B.C. and bows made with adhesively bonded
laminates of horns of buffaloes or antelope, wood or silk tendons were used by the
Mongolians in 1200 A.D. In fact, composites with natural fibers have been revived
in eighties and very intense research has been going on since nineties due to
various reasons as mentioned in Table 2 and reported in many publications on
composites. Summarizing these it may be said these fibers are primarily used as
substitutes for the expensive petroleum based synthetic fiber and support global
sustainability, diversification of nonfood areas addressing global environmental and
stable economy through agro industry and initial success of their composites in
automotive, building and various engineering applications. In addition, the positive
attributes of these fibers include the cost of fibers [US$ 0.22-1.10 compared to US$
1.30-2 for glass fibers], specific properties, low emission of pollutants,
biodegradability, product diversification, besides providing a new source of income
to the farmers. Even possibility of these fibers to substitute glass fibers in many
applications of composites has been raised [18,19]. Since natural fiber based
composites with single type of reinforcement exhibit some limitations such as
imbalance in properties particularly due to moisture absorption, hybridization [use
of more than one type of fibers, synthetic or natural] has been attempted as one of
the methods to overcome the above. Such composites become attractive due to
them being lighter, while being stronger than single synthetic reinforcements
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providing a balance between performances and cost by proper material design,

which includes quantity and form of reinforcements [short fibers/nonwoven or
woven mats/fabrics/roving, etc]. It may be worthwhile to note that synthetic-natural
fibers combinations may bring down the cost of reinforcements in addition to
lowering the density without severely compromising the mechanical properties. On
the other hand, the natural-natural fibers combination meets the requirement of
ecological concerns with appropriate property combinations for certain applications.
While a large amount of literature is available on mono composites of polymer-
plant fibers [69-105], only limited studies are reported on both the types of hybrid
polymer composites [106-119]
2.2.1. Surface Modification of Fibers:

Considering that plant fibers normally do not have good adhesion with polymer or
ceramic matrices due to their higher polarity and hydrophilic nature, a number of
surface modification methodologies have been attempted. Such modifications not
only improve their wettability with the polymer matrices, but also reduce the
moisture absorption and some times impart special properties and ease of
processing [17,28,29,56,60-63,119-129]. It may be noted that four types, viz.,
chemical (acetylation, mercerization, silane treatment, etc.), physico-chemical
(solvent extraction), physical (use of different rays or plasma, steam explosion) and
mechanical methods (rolling, swaging) have been attempted by the researchers all
over the world including Brazilian researchers for the surface modification of
natural fibers. These are reviewed from time to time [17,28,29,69] and Table 4
summarizes these. Chemical treatments affect the hydrophilic surfaces of the fibers
to hydrophobic due to condensation reactions, which in turn exposes the fiber
surface to compatible chemical groups of the matrices. Sometimes, even pressure
is used during mercerization particularly in textile industries. Since mercerization is
more used by the textile engineers compared to materials scientists, more details
on the effect of mercerization of fibers may be seen in publications dealing with
textile fibers. A new method of selective oxidation of some units of lignin with
furfuryl alcohol has also been tried out [32,62,63]. As these chemical methods,
which involve solvent, affect the structure (composition) and surfaces (morphology)
of fibers due to the extraction of some of the constituents such as pectin, lignin and
hemicelluloses, which in turn affect the properties of the fibers as reported in many
of published reports mentioned above, more details on these aspects can be seen
in the references mentioned here.
Table 4. List of various Surface Modification methods used for plant fibers.
Method Type Fiber Effect observed

Physical Stretching / Calendering / Coir, curauá, No change in chemical composition,
Thermal/Electric Discharge / jute, flax. changes in structural and surface
Steam explosion / Coating properties, improvement in tensile
with metal or chemicals properties
such as lignin, polyester,
ethylenediamine / sodium
alginate, etc.
Chemical Mercerization / Coupling- Jute, sisal, Change the hydrophilic fiber surfaces
silanes / Graft- coir, curauá, to hydrophobic/Improvement in
coplymerization / banana. dispersion of fibers, fiber composition
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Method Type Fiber Effect observed

Acetylation / Acid / changes with the extraction of some of
Isocynate / peroxide / its constituents (pectin, lignin and
Bleaching / Selective hemicellulose), changes in
oxidation with furfuryl morphology, Mostly Tensile
alcohol. properties and moisture absorption,
lowering of viscosity of the mixture,
reduces strength of fibers (alkali).
Physico- Solvent extraction. Sisal, jute, Improvement in strength properties
Chemical Bagasse, and moisture absorption
curauá
Mechanical Rolling flat, splitting Straws of rice Improves bonding, tensile properties
and wheat,
bamboo,
banana
While no mechanical method seems to be employed in Brazil, steam explosion

seems to have attracted their attention. Since not much is reported on the effect of
steam explosion of plant fibers in earlier publications, some details are given here.
It is to be noted that concentration, time and temperature of these treatments play
an important role in providing quality modification to the fiber surface, which help in
improving mechanical and other properties.
Steam explosion is a high pressure steaming, which is reported to be one of the
most successful options for fractionating of wood along with enhancing
susceptibility of cellulose to enzymatic attack [127-129]. This process involves
heating lignocellulosic materials at high temperatures and pressures, followed by
mechanical disruption of the pretreated material by violent discharge into a
collecting tank (explosion). This has been applied to sisal industry leading to zero
emissions model for agro materials industry [130]. Further, this technique is also
applied to various biomass [7,71], wood flour [72], hemp fibers [73], Miscanthus
Sinensis wood [74], and sugarcane bagasse [75], some of which were used in the
preparation of composites. However, even though no surface modification is
required for the fibers in their use for the preparation of biodegradable composites,
it is used to improve further adhesion and to impart special features such as higher
fiber incorporation (60-85%), reduction of moisture sensitivity and durability to the
composites and their non-structural but high grade applications [7,76,77]. Different
conditions (catalyst, temperature, pressure and time of treatment) of steam
explosion given to some of the lignocellulosic materials such as straws of rice and
wheat, sugarcane bagasse, corncobs, etc. are available [129]. The conditions used
depend on the lignocellulosic materials. They may include catalysts such as H2SO4,
SO2, H3PO4, Lewis acids, NH4Cl, (NH4)2SO4, acetic acid and organic acid
anhydrides, aluminium sulphate, water and sodium hydroxide at different
concentrations and temperatures in the range of 137-250oC, pressure between 0.7-
2.5 MPa and time between 30-600 seconds.
2.2.2. Matrix Materials

Commodity polymers constitute 80% of the polymer market. It is well known that
renewable resources such as plants can also be resources for polymeric materials,
which will be biodegradable. Accordingly, thermoplastic, thermosets and
elastomers based on renewable resources have been used all over the world
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including Brazil while much attention has also been paid towards the use of
recycled plastics in Brazil. The development and use of biodegradable polymers
based on natural materials (different types of starches, cashew nut shell liquid, poly
(hydroxybutyrate) - PHB, etc.) in Brazil is probably due to their abundant
availability. Extensive published literature is available on the processing, structure
and properties of biodegradable polymers [131-134]. Some of the biodegradable
polymers are now available commercially [12,15,76]. Modifications have been
made wherever required to improve the compatibility with natural fibers or to impart
any specific property. On the other hand, mostly cement is used as matrix under
ceramic matrix composites in recent times, while clay was used in early times.
2.2.3. Reinforcement Materials

Majority of the natural fibers described under Section 2.1 are used for the
incorporation in polymer and ceramic matrices. New fibers, whiskers and nanotype
fibers produced by steam explosion and other wet chemical processes such as
steam refining, enzymatic treatment have also been used for a variety of
applications [7,24]. Attempts are also being made to develop high strength “Bio
Steel’ fibers based on proteins such as spider silk [12].
2.2.4. Fabrication of Composites

Both mono and hybrid composites based on plant fibers have been prepared
generally by conventional methods including the resin transfer molding method
used for the polymer-synthetic fiber composite systems. Mostly, hot compression
and extrusion followed by injection moulding are employed in Brazil. Details of
these can be seen in any textbook on processing of polymers and their composites
as also in some chapters of this book. Heating to drive out the moisture on the
surface of the plant fibers before using them for composite fabrication is an
important step despite its detrimental effect of creating voids. Both of them will
reduce the mechanical properties of the fibers and hence it is suggested that the
drying can be done in vacuum [17].
Both sheet molding [SMC] and bulk molding [BMC] can be used with plant fibers
similar to those with synthetic fibers. For example, 45 wt% flax fiber-unsaturated
polyester SMC showed higher tensile strength (6cN/tex) compared to that of its
counter part with glass fiber (2cN/tex) while other properties such as flexural
modulus (600-750 cN/tex for flax 900cN/tex for glass), flexural strength (7.5cN/tex),
Young’s modulus (150cN/tex) and impact energy (~1.8mJ/g) were comparable
[6,17,128]. Similarly, it is reported that treated 30-70wt% coir fiber UP resin BMC
exhibited higher tensile strength (40-45 Nmm-2) than even the same amount of
chopped glass fiber composites (30-35 Nmm-2).
New techniques such as dry processing, wet processing and also powder
impregnation are employed elsewhere [see references 21,28,31 for details]
particularly in the fabrication of biodegradable composites [76]. In such cases,
reinforcements used are special textiles [geotextiles and nonwovens].
Next section presents various systems studied and different processing
methodologies employed so far with plant fiber incorporated polymer and ceramic
matrix mono and hybrid composites.
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3. CHARACTERIZATION
3.1. Techniques and Equipments Used

Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to evaluate various
properties of plant fibers in the as-received condition as functions of species, age
and location, etc and on surface modification as well as their composites both in
Brazil and elsewhere. Physical, chemical and mechanical properties and
weathering effects on these for both the fibers and their composites are determined
using various techniques and equipments based on standard methods of testing
such as ASTM, APTCP M-11/77 and TAPPI T13m standards.
The chemical aspects include those related to the determination of the chemical
composition of the plant fibers (humidity, volatile components such as essential
oils, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and sugars), thermal behavior, and
predominant functional groups at the fiber surface, among others. Fourier
transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, Electron
spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) also known as X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Energy Dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS) are some of the techniques used for determining the chemical
composition of the fibers. Further, chemical changes such as oxidation,
degradation and glass transition temperatures, which also change their dynamic
mechanical properties in both plant fibers and their composites, are studied
through thermal analysis. Such an analysis also reveals the temperature and
energy changes associated with the structural modifications in the fibers and
shows qualitatively the changes brought out in the fibers and their composites.
These are complimented by X-ray diffraction and microscopy techniques. These
thermal analyses are carried out using thermogravimetric analysis (TG) or
derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG), differential thermal analysis (DTA),
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis
(DMA). Details of these techniques can be seen in any textbook on Materials
Science.
Physical and mechanical properties, which are generally dictated by the chemical
and structural parameters of the fibers such as the amount of cellulose and lignin,
their arrangement, size and shape of different types of cells and defects present,
are determined using appropriate instruments. Details of these can be found in
many references cited in this Chapter. See also Ref. [135].
Physical properties include length and diameter of fibers, density of both the fibers
and their composites, crystallinity and helical or microfibrillar angle (the angle
subtended by the helically wound cellulose microfibrils in the fibers with the fiber
axis), moisture absorption, electrical resistivity, etc. The crystallinity and helical angle
of the fibers are determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) while strength properties
are determined using mechanical testing equipments. The area method is used [60]
to determine the crystallinity of fibers in percentage using the equation 1,
Icr (%) = [I (2θ) / Total area] x 100 [1]
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Where, I(2θ) is the area of the diffraction peak at the angle (2θ) associated with the
crystalline region of the fiber. On the other hand, microfibrillar angle (θ) is
determined by single crystal method using appropriate conditions such as radiation
with suitable filters, voltage and current conditions and sample-film distance.
Morphological studies of the fibers and their composites including their
fractography are determined using optical and electron microscopes.
3.2. Characterization of Fibers and Matrices

Table 5(a,b) lists chemical compositions, crystallinity, helical angle and tensile
properties of some plant fibers, which have been used in composite preparation.
Table 5(a). Some chemical and physical properties of plant fibers. Adapted from ref. 1,135.
α -Cellulose Lignin Fiber Dimensions Density

Fiber (%) (%) (L/D) mm/μm (kgm-3)
Bark/Stem Fibers
Bagasse (Sugar Cane)
54.3-55.2 25.3-24.3 60/25 344-492
Brazil
Others 32-44 19-24 10-300/10-34 450-492
Bamboo – Others 33-45 20-25 60/60-100 1400
Banana – Others 60-65 5-10 300-900/12-30 1500-1350
Jute
Brazil 60 15.9 - 1450
Others 59-71 11.8-12.9 120/25-30
Ramie - Others 80-85 0.5 900-1200/ 20-80 1500
Piaçava - Brazil 31.6 48.4 - -
Rice-Straw - Others 51-70 12-16 0.4-3.4/4-16 -
Leaf Fiber
Curauá - Brazil 70.7-73.6 7.5-11.1 35/7-10 920
Pineapple
Brazil 83 12 900-1500/
Others 80 12 1440
Sisal
Brazil 74-75.2 7.6-7.98 900/8-50 1260-1330
Others 60-67 8-12 900-1200/15-30 1450
Fruit/Seed Fiber
Coir
Water-free Sample - 10-150/12-14 1390-1520
43.4-53 8.3-40.77-45
Brazil
Others 43.77 20-150/10-50 1250-1500
Cotton Lint - Others 90 <2 35/10-45 1510
Luffa-cylíndrica - Brazil 62 11.2 25-60 (Diameter) 820
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Table 5(b). Microfibrillar angle and mechanical properties of some plant fibers of Brazil & others.
Adapted from ref. 1,8,32,135.
Fiber Microfibr Young´s Ultimate Tensile Elongation Flexural

illar Modulus Strength (MPa) at Break Modulus
Angle(θ) (GPa) (%)
(Mpa)
Bark/Stem fibers
Bagasse
Brazil 14-15a 17.9a-27.1 222 1.1
Others 4.52-19 70.9-290
Banana
Brazil 27-32 700-800 2.5-3.7 2-5
Others 10-12 711-789
Jute
Brazil 17.1 a 465 0.7
Others 7-9 10-30 400-800 1.5-1.8 0.3-0.5
Ramie - Others 7.5-12 44 500-870 1.2
Flax - Others 10 - 780 2.4
Palmyrah - Others 42.5 4-6 190 11.0
Piaçava - Brazil 1.07-4.59 108.5-147.3 6.4-21.9
Leaf Fiber
30-80b 1250-3000b 4.5-6b
Curauá Wet
10.5 439-495 (MOR) c 1.3
Curauá Dry 18.8 a 27.1 117 (MOR) c /495 1.3-3.2
Pineapple
Brazil 82 180 3.2 0.2-0.4
Others 8-15 25-36 362-748 2-2.8
Sisal
Brazil 17.9 a 19.00-29.50 324-577 2-3.5
Others 10-20 17-22 530-630 3.64-5.12 12.5-17.5
Fruit/Seed/Fiber
Coir
Brazil 51 2.5-4.5 95-174 13.7-41 -
Others 30-45 6 220 23.9-51.4 15-20
Cotton - Others 33-34 12 400 0.03-0.10
a - Calculated; b - Diameter: 30-60m,; Test length- 20mm and Strain rate-5mm/min; c- MOR: Modulus of
Rupture.
Figure 5(a-f) show photomicrographs of cross sections of various fibers, while

fracture surfaces of these fibers are shown in Figure 6(a-f). It can be seen that
though these fibers contain lignin and cellulose as the major constituents, their
structures are different in that the shape, size, and arrangements of cells as well as
thickness of cell walls. The central lacuna/lumen also differs from fiber to fiber.
Accordingly, the fractographs also show differences, some of which having
intercellular or intracellular or mixed modes of fracture.
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Figure 5. Photomicrographs of cross sections of various: (a) kenaf; (b): curauá surface [157];
(c) banana; (d) piaçava; (e) bagasse; (f) coir [156]. Reproduced with kind permission of the Publishers
of references: a (91), c (142), d (155), e (96).
Figure 6. Fractographs of some lignocellulosic fibers (a) coir-tensile tested:5mm/min;x1000; (b) helical
spiral in the fractured surface; (c) Coir tensile tested showing fibrils pull out; (d) Pineapple; (e) Curauá
(Both tensile tested at strain rate of 50mm/min; Magnification: 500 & 100 respectively) (f) Curauá
(Tensile tested at strain rate of 50mm/min, Magnification: 500. Reproduced with kind permission of the
Publishers of ref.: b (158), c (139), d (149), a, e, f (courtesy of Fabio Tomczak).
Tensile properties of plant fibers as functions of their size, locality and age have been
reported elsewhere [136-138], and determined in recent times particularly in respect
of Indian plant fibers [39,139-154]. In the latter case, the reports include their
resources, properties, surface modifications and microstructural aspects for large
number of fibers and also similar data for flax elsewhere [17]. However, only a limited
number of Brazilian fibers have been studied for such details [155-158]. Mechanical
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properties and thermal characterization of Brazilian coir fibers have also been
evaluated; the latter is with and without the surface modification by alkali [158].
From these tables and figures it is interesting to note that high cellulose content,
high length to diameter ratio (l/d) of ultimate fibers or microfibrils and low helical
angle exhibit high tensile strength and modulus with low % elongation and
intergranular fracture, while fiber with low cellulose content, high microfibrillar
angle, low l/d ratio and high helical angle exhibit low strength and modulus values,
but longer % elongation and intercellular fracture. Besides, correlations between
cellulose content and / or microfibrillar angle with tensile properties have been
arrived at as shown below: (a) an empirical equation relating Young’s modulus and
microfibrillar angle found applicable mainly for bast and seed fibers [159]:
Yc = Yf x cos2 θ [2]
where, Yc and Yf are the axial Young’s modulus values of fiber and microfibril
(cellulose) and θ is the microfibrillar angle; (b) another empirical equation relating
Young’s modulus, cellulose content and microfibrillar angle of the fibers found
applicable to all fibers [160]:
Yf = WcYccos2θ + WncYnc [3]
where, Yf is the effective modulus, Wc is the weight fraction of the crystalline region,
Yc is the modulus of the crystalline region, Wnc is the fraction of the non-crystalline
region and Ync is the modulus of the non-crystalline region; (c) The latest empirical
equation showing an unified relationship between mechanical properties such as
Young’s modulus, % elongation or tensile strength with cellulose content (C) and
structural parameters such as cell dimensions (L/D) and microfibrillar angle (θ) [100]:
Pth = Pobs = KCa1 (L/D)a2 θ a3+A [4]
where P denotes the value of one of the properties mentioned above while K and A
being constants. One would get a number of equations depending on the number
of fibers considered. Solutions for these have been found with a1, a2, and a3 taking
suitable values for the relation to hold good. Then, one can derive some regression
equations for tensile strength and % elongation, which can be seen in Ref. [129].
By knowing any two of the structural components of the fibers, one can calculate
the strength properties of fibers for which such data are not available at present.
It is to be noted that while crystallinity index of plant fibers is determined for most of the
plant fibers in Brazil, their microfibrillar angles are not determined experimentally. This
is the reverse in other parts of the world. For example, in Brazil, microfibrillar angles are
determined for many fibers using the empirical/regression equations mentioned above
[1,62,63,155-157]. X-ray diffraction patterns obtained for some of the Brazilian plant
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fibers is shown in Figure 7(a), while Figure 7(b) shows the same with and without
surface treatment in respect of Luffa cylindrica.
Figure 7. X-ray diffraction patterns of (a) bagasse, coir, curauá and sisal (adapted from [79,156,157]);
(b) Luffa cylindrica with and without surface modification. Reproduced from ref. 58 with kind permission
of the Publishers.
Similarly, detailed literature is published on the internal structure of various fibers

giving information on different types of cells, their size and arrangement in the plant
tissues [30,33,39,136-138,141-144,146-149]. No such study is made in respect of
many of the Brazilian fibers. In fact, such a study would have helped in
understanding the Brazilian fibers in depth, while lack of such information could be
one of the reasons for the non-exploitation of full potential of these fibers.
Another concern in the case of natural fibers is the wide scatter of their strength
properties, which has been one of the drawbacks for their use in composites.
Weibull distribution is found to be a useful tool to overcome this when included as a
model for product life since this scatter in strength properties of synthetic fibers
obeys such distribution, particularly the tensile strength of fibers. Such an analysis
is carried out only in respect of a few plant fibers, mainly for coir in India and sisal
in Brazil [124,135,143]. In a related matter, dependence of strength of plant fibers
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with their length or diameter is explained by incorporating the role of defects in

these fibers [135], since latter’s density can be more accurately assessed [161].
Extensive studies on the thermal analysis of fibers have been done in Brazil. Some
of these can be seen in Refs. [5-9, 48,57-62] and Figure 8(a-d) shows some of
these. Generally it can be seen that all the plant fibers show two or three
decomposition stages, which are associated with the removal of absorbed water
and the decomposition of chemical constituents of the fibers. It may be noted that
Fig. 8d shows dynamic mechanical analysis of as-received coir fiber indicating
shifts in dynamic Tg (the temperature at which the damping factor [tanδ] or the loss
modulus [E”] become maximum).
Figure 8. Thermal Analysis Curves for different Plant Fibers (a) DTA of coir [150]; (b) TG/DSC of
Curaua [135]; (c) TG/DSC of typical cellulose fiber [135]; (d) DMTA of coir [156].
(courtesy of Fabio Tomczak).
Surface modified plant fibers are also evaluated for their properties using the
techniques mentioned above. Chemically treated plant fibers showed different
variation in properties as can be seen from the Table 6. Normally, pullout tests are
performed for the determination of enhanced adhesion between the fiber and the
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matrix. For example, alkali treated coir fibers showed enhanced pull out stress
[121,122], while sisal, jute and pineapple and Luffa cylindrica fibers showed
improvement in tensile strength, moisture absorption and crystallinity [51,52,55-
58,61-63,78,79,123,124].
Table 6. Properties of plant fibers after surface modification.
Material Treatment Density Tensile Moisture Crystallinit Reference

[Mgm-3] Strength Content y Index
[MPa] [%] [%]
Luffa- None 0.82 - 8.0 59.1 59
cylindrica
Luffa- 2% 1.19 - 7.5 61.6 59
cylindrica NaOH
Luffa- 3% N- 1.11 - 7.9 62.1 55,135
cylindrica IPA
Sisal None 1.26 324.2 11.7 72.2 79
Sisal 2% 1.19 375.4 11.2 76.2 79
NaOH
Sisal 1% N- 1.18 331.2 6.5 75.6 55,79
IPA
Sugarcane None 222 9.5 47 62,63
bagasse
Sugarcane Furfuryl 153 11.0 42 62,63
bagasse alcohol
Jute None 465 70
Jute 5% 590 70
NaOH
Curauá None 495 70
Curauá Ionized 480 70
air
Coir 5% 94 158
NaOH
On the other hand, a decrease in the strength was found for curauá and sugarcane
bagasse fibers [5-9]. Also, steam-treated hemp fibers revealed [73] openings of
fibers [decreasing diameters] both along the length as well as along the diameter or
the width resulting in the total count of fibers for the same weight of the fiber at
32% for inert environment and at 39% in air. This resulted enhanced tensile
strength and modulus of fibers treated particularly in inert environment presumably
with less number of natural defects, while it decreased in air, which may be due to
oxidation of various constituents of fiber that generally contribute to strength.
However, properties of both polymer and ceramic matrix materials are generally
available in literature and hence researchers have characterized them when they
are chosen for a specific purpose. These may be found in the published literature
as well as some of the Chapters in this book.
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3.3. Structure and Properties of Composites
3.3.1. Non biodegradable Composites:

A large amount of literature is now available on structure and properties of plant
fiber incorporated thermoset and thermoplastic composites for fibers from both
Brazil and elsewhere [1,5-10,16,27-32,49-52,55-59,63,70,78-85,105,108,109,162]
including in other chapters in this book. Hence the readers are suggested to read
them for more details. For completion only a summary of these are given here.
Recently an overview on the use of local resources in composites has brought out
some attempts made in a federal government supported research institute in India
[163], which includes the development of various elements for buildings fabricated
from polymer-natural fiber composites.
Figure 9 shows typical stress-strain curves for some plant fiber-polymer
composites along with that of PP-glass fiber composite in a bending test [164]. It
can be seen that though all the curves seemed to be similar in that they show initial
increasing trend of stress with increasing strain, the slopes of the curves, the
breaking strength and breaking strain depended on the fiber or the matrix used.
Figure 9. Stress-strain curves for different plant fiber-polymer composites.

Reproduced with kind permission of the author from ref. 164.
Table 7 and Table 8 list some of the reported properties of these composites
including a biodegradable composite from other countries and Brazil respectively.
It can be seen that most of the mechanical properties of most of the composites
with both thermoset and thermoplastic polymers are lower than that of matrices
used. This suggests that these fibers without surface modifications act at best as
fillers. On the other hand, tensile properties of the composites are generally
improved with the surface modification of fibers. The interfacial bonding, which
plays an important role in determining these improvements of properties are best
assessed by the compression tests. It is also interesting to see that the impact
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properties of composites increase with fibers having decreasing microfibrillar angle

for same amount of fiber content. For example, the work of fracture (impact
strength values in kJ/m-2) of unidirectionally aligned 50vol% of sisal, pineapple,
banana and coir fiber containing polyester composites are reported as 98.7, 79.5,
51.6 and 43.5, respectively [5]. Improvements in strength and moisture absorption
in these composites occur normally due to the reduction in porosity as observed by
many researchers [123].
Table 7. Properties of polymer- plant fibers – composites
System Treatment UTS YM FS FM IS Ref.

(MPa) (GPa) (MPa) (GPa) (kJm-2)
PP-40wt% Jute Nil 25-27 3-4 35 2.5- 15 18
2.8
PP-40wt% Sisal- Nil 35 5.5 25 1.5- 26-28 18
1.8
PP-40wt% Hemp- Nil 53 6.8- 55 5.0 25.5 18
7.0
PP-40wt% Coir- Nil 10 1.4 27 0.7 22 18
Polyester-25wt% Nil 43.5 2.3 92 51.6 99
Banana
PP-50wt% Kenaf Nil 62 7.7 91 85 32(J/m) 104a
Polyester-30wt% Nil 61 6.3 91 4.8 13.2 85
Flax mat
Acrylic-30wt% Nil 52 6.3 85 5.9 15 85
Flax mat
PP-30wt% Flax Nil 27.3 1.66 42.9 3.9 97
fiber bundle
PP-30wt% Flax MAPP Treated 38.2 1.97 58.3 3.95 97
fiber bundle
PP-30wt% Flax MA+Peroxide 48.3 2.18 76.0 5.49 97
fiber bundle Treated
PP-30wt% Flax VTMO+Peroxide 43.7 2.14 72.3 5.37 97
fiber bundle- Treated
Aliphatic Nil 21.09 40.16 1.84 8.17 98
Polyester-50wt%
bagasse
Aliphatic 1-5% NaOH treated 23.07 46.05 2.03 9.52 98
Polyester-50wt%
bagasse
a-The values shown from this reference are actually taken by the author of the article from Modern
Plastics Encyclopedia (1993) and Machine Design: Materials Guide Issue (1994).
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Table 8. Properties of some composite systems of plant fibres of Brazil. Adapted from ref. 1,7-9,50,135.
System Content (%) UTS YM Elong. FS FM IS

/Treatment (MPa) (GPa) (%) (MPa) (GPa) (J/m)
Bagasse- 20 wt% 16.52 31.19 1.14 4.22
Polypropylene (kJm-2)
Curauá-Polyester 28.4 wt% 53.1 4.99 85.3
Curauá-PP 50 wt% 31.25 4.95 1.83 148.0
Pineapple- 32w/10% NaOH 77.82- 3.20- 5.82- 5.2- 352-368
Polyester 84.15 3.68 6.80 5.4
Luffa Cylindrica- 30/nil 30 1.7
Polyester 30/5% NaOH 46.4 3.22
Sisal-Epoxy 46v 211 19.7 1.9
Sisal (Untreated)- 30 w/w 31.12 3.09 2
LDPE
Sisal (Untreated)- 30 wt% 24.5 2.8 30 2.5 7.9
HDPE
Sisal (Plasma 30 wt% 24 2.8 29.5 2.5 7.0
treated)-HDPE
Sisal-Rubber 5-10/none 6.76- 38,27- 29 2.49 105
particle Size~420µ 8.43 40.28
Sisal-Rubber 5-10/5-2/10% NaOH 7.51- 31.51-
13.35 43.68
Sisal-Rubber 5-10/10% NaOH + 8.96- 34.79-
Acetylated 12.00 58.23
Ramie-PP 50 wt% 34.67 3.43 - 29.33 3.02
UTS: Ultimate Tensile Strength; YM: Young`s Modulus; FS: Flexural Strength; FM: Flexural Modulus; IS:
Impact Strength (unnotched).
However, there are very limited studies on the evaluation of composite properties
as function of aging. Figure 10 (a,b) shows plots of strength and flexural modulus
of piaçava fiber-HDPE polymer composite as a function of fiber content [165]. It
can be seen that with increasing fiber content these properties also increase.
Studies on thermophenolic-based composites have been made in Brazil using
mainly curauá, bagasse and sisal fibers [5-9, 30, 32, 62, 63].
Figure 10 (a,b). Strength properties as functions of piassava fiber content in HDPE composite system:
(a) tensile strength; (b) flexural modulus. Reproduced from ref. 86 with permission of the
author/Publishers.
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Similarly, a considerable amount of study has been oriented to the thermal analysis
of plant fiber composites including biodegradable composites, which have thrown
light on their thermal stability. Figure 11(a-d) shows some of these curves. Once
again it may be seen that these are depending on the type of fiber or the matrix
used particularly on the morphology of the fibers used. While all natural fibers show
similar behaviour when subjected to heat as explained earlier, their composites
exhibited slightly different behaviour depending on the fiber used. For example,
DTG curves shown in Figure 11(a) show the stability of phenol formaldehyde (PF)-
cotton-jute composite decreased to 290oC from that for the matrix (350oC) while the
amount of char produced being higher for both of them. On the other hand,
polypropylene (PP)-sisal system showed higher stability than that of sisal fiber
(Figure 11(b)), which is attributed to good fiber-matrix interaction.
Figure 11. Thermal analysis curves for different plant fiber-polymer systems- (a) DTA; (b)TG of sisal,
PP and their composite; (c) DSC of sisal-PP; (d) DMTA curves of biodegradable composite of
thermoplastic starch containing same weight of natural fiber (leafwood) of different fiber lengths.
Reproduced with kind permission of the Publishers from ref: a,b (8), c (82), d (95).
Microscopic studies using both optical and scanning electronic microscopes have
been carried out to understand the observed properties including fracture behavior
of these composites. For example, Figure 12(a-c) shows fractographs after impact
testing of three different plant fibers (flax, sisal and jute)-acrylic resin composites. It
can be seen that sisal fiber composites show higher pull outs indicating lower
interface with the resin due to their larger diameter than the other two fibers.
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Figure 12. Fractographs of impact tested plant fiber-acrylic resin composites (a) flax (b) sisal and
(c) jute (d) kenaf-biodegradable composite. Reproduced with kind permission of the Publishers
from ref.: a-c (85), d (91).
On the other hand, the flax fiber composite shows higher axial splitting, which
results in higher toughening [85]. Though very limited, studies on creep and cyclic
dynamic behaviors of plant fiber-polymer composites have been shown that both
these properties are improved when coupling agents are used during the synthesis
of their [abaca/sisal/jute] composites with both thermoset and thermoplastic
matrices [17,165,166]. On the other hand, lowering of properties due to exposure
to environment can be reduced by surface treatments.
3.3.2. Biodegradable Composites:

Some mechanical properties of biodegradable composites with sugarcane bagasse
fibers can be seen in Table 7. In the case of other biodegradable composites,
properties of unidirectional biocomposites of ramie/hemp/flax with modified starch
resins are reported [12] to be comparable with those of the corresponding epoxy
composites while their tensile strength (200-250MPa) is comparable to that of
steel.
Fiber boards made with Miscanthus Sinensis wood- with steam-exploded kraft
lignin showed improvements in various properties [18.8% in Young’s modulus, 13%
in modulus of rupture, 20.6% in internal bond strength, 71% decrease in water
swelling, 24% in water absorption] over those made without that treatment [74].
This is due to the elimination of low molecular weight substances during steam
explosion, which also helped better mixing with cellulosic fibers. Another interesting
effect of steam explosion is the enhanced dispersibility of lignocelluosic fibers
enabling to improve their potential as reinforcing agents. For example, composites
of degummed hemp fibres [separated into single cells] with two different polymers,
viz., brittle poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) and ductile co-polyester
amide matrix processed by co-rotating twin screw extruder, showed [87] that both
the fiber content [up to 42%vol] in the composites and the tensile properties
increased due to steam explosion. Increase in the tensile strength of the co-
polyester matrix was almost double [30MPa] by the reinforcement with 27% of
fibres, while the Young’s modulus was quadrupled (3.5 GPa). No such
improvements with PHB were observed except for its Young’s modulus (6 GPa)
and the accompanying reduction in impact strength.
It is also found that higher tensile strength is obtained for PHB containing recycled
fibers [88], followed by flax-PLLA [89] (62 MPa), hemp-triglyceride systems (35
MPa) and flax-triglyceride system [90] (20-30 MPa), while wood flour and its pulp in
PHB showing the lowest values (24.20 MPa and 11 MPa, respectively) [7]. Young’s
-499-
modulus values reported are 6.3 GPa, 4.4 GPa, and 4.14 GPa for kenaf-poly lactic
acid (PLLA), hemp 40wt%-triglyceride and wood flour-PHB, respectively.
Composites of acrylated epoxidized soybean oil resins containing 34% flax and
20% hemp showed ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 30 and 35 MPa, respectively
and the Young’s modulus of the latter was 4.4 GPa [28]. Figure 12(d) shows
fracture of kenaf fiber based biodegradable composites [91] revealing some
features of fracture modes of the composites, highlighting the poor and good
bonding between the fibers and the matrix as well as the interfacial reactions,
respectively.
On the other hand, Jute fabric-biopol composite showed [92,93] about 130-150%
increase in tensile (TS), impact strength (IS) and the Young’s modulus (YM) and
33% elongation and 50-81% in bending strength over the matrix properties, while
starch-30%glycerene-16% Eucalyptus urograss pulp fiber [l/d=60, l=1 mm]
composite showed [7, 94] 120% in increase in TS, 156% in YM and 33%in %
elongation. This composite also exhibited the flexural strength (FS) of 35.7-51.3
MPa and flexural modulus (FM) of 2.6 GPa. Also, the later composite showed
about 40% decrease in water absorption and increase in glass transition
temperature (Tg) from 2 to 17oC. All these changes in properties of the composite
system have been attributed to interaction between glycerine and fibers [94]. Also,
limited studies have reported the properties of chitin (polysaccharide)-starch
system [7], leafwood cellulose fibers-plasticized wheat starch [95] and polyethylene
systems.
The University of the authors’ is one of the leading institutes in Brazil concentrating
on survey of the natural materials including plant fibers and their utilization in the
development of composites with both synthetic and biodegradable polymers
[1,15,16,53,58-60,68,75,125,126,129,156,157,167-169]. The systems chosen for
detailed study include coir and curauá fibers for both mono and hybrid composites
using glass fibers for the latter with polypropylene matrix [125,126], sugar cane
bagasse fiber with polyester and PHB matrices [75,167] and banana, curaúa, luffa
cylindrica fibers with corn starch, and castor oil cake using both commercial and
recycled glycerine, a by-product of biodiesel.
Two patents have been filed so far on the biodegradable composites based on
banana, curaúa, luffa cylindrica fibers with corn starch, and castor oil cake using
both commercial and recycled glycerine, a byproduct of biodiesel [168,169].
It was found [75] that in polyester-10wt.% bagasse composites steam treated fiber
containing composite (WIPC) showed higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) values
(108.12 MPa) followed by that for steam treated and alkali washed fiber containing
composites (AWPC) (80.73 MPa) compared to that of composite containing as-
received fibers(BPC) (67.20 MPa). Both Young’s modulus (YM) (12.04 and 12.37
GPa) and % strain to break (0.91 and0.96 ) remained almost constant for the
composites containing treated fibers (both WIPC and AWPC), but % strain to break
of these two composites were higher than that of composite containing as-received
fibers (BPC) (0.73). On the other hand, YM values of these composites were lower
than that of as-received fiber containing composite (14.01 GPa). However, the
ultimate tensile strength (157.50 MPa) and % strain at break (2.01) were highest
for the matrix (PPC) compared to those of composites, while its YM was the lowest
(11.87 GPa). These results suggested positive effect of fiber incorporation
particularly with YM over that of the matrix and those of UTS and % strain at break
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with surface treatment of the fiber over the untreated fiber containing composite.
These results were explained based on the wetting/adhesion behavior between
various types of fibers (as-received, Steam exploded, Steam exploded + Alkali
washed) used and the polyester matrix, as well as nature of distribution of fibers
(homogeneous or otherwise). Improvement in tensile properties were confirmed in
DMA analyses by the better impact properties for composites containing steam
exploded bagasse fibers than those of composites containing as-received fibers.
On the other hand, Young`s modulus values of PHB-5-20wt.% bagasse fibers were
2.07-2.18 GPa compared to 1.38GPa for the matrix PHB and 1.9 GP for
composites containing 5 and 30wt% steam treated bagasse fibers[167]. Ultimate
tensile strength values of the composites with and without steam treatments were
lower (~13-24MPa) compared to that of matrix PHB (30MPa). These results also
suggest incorporation of bagasse fibers (both treated or otherwise) improve the
Young`s modulus of the matrix. These results have been explained using
fractographs observed by scanning electron microscope.
Generally, biodegradability of the composites is determined by the weight loss in
soil burial. Accordingly, biodegradable jute-urethane prepolymer with aliphatic
chains composite buried in soil (ca. 3% water), in clay with 22% and 33% water
and only in water showed degradation in clay, but not in soil or water [8].
Weathering of this composite in simulated conditions by alternating sunshine and
condensation also showed degradation.
3.3.3. Hybrid Composites:

In Brazil, sisal/jute/Luffa cylindrica with glass fiber fibers (up to 50wt.%) and natural
fiber hybrids such as jute-cotton and sisal-bentonite (up to 10wt.%), ramie-cotton
with polyester matrix systems have been studied. Tensile properties of these
hybrids are evaluated as a function of different orientations and lengths of fibers
and of test angle [0,45 and 90o]. Some of these are shown in Table 9 (a,b).
Table 9 (a). Strength properties of plant fibers–polymer hybrid composites as a function of fiber content
/ treatment to fiber.
System / Fiber (in Young’s Tensile Elongation Flexural Flexural Impact Ref
wt%) Modulus Strength (%) Strength Modulus Strength
(GPa) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) (J/m)
Polyester-14 30.96 2.68 61.24 4.16 740.5 27
banana-cotton [kgm-1]
fabric
Polyester-75 sisal- 22.20 6 46.77 2.45 2.36 119
glass
Polyester-75 glass- 25.93 7.2 68.84 2.83 3.86 119
sisal-
Polyurethane-25 1.263 24.4 5.51 598 118
sisal-5 bentonite
Polyurethane- HCl 1.430 28.9 4.1 1051 118
treated 25 sisal-5
bentonite-
Polyester- 52.5 85.61 80 117
pineapple-4.3 glass
Polyester- 72 101.25 130 117
pineapple-12.9
glass-
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System / Fiber (in Young’s Tensile Elongation Flexural Flexural Impact Ref
wt%) Modulus Strength (%) Strength Modulus Strength
(GPa) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) (J/m)
Polyester-jute- 2.82 35.6 3.0 116
glass-(35%-2
layers)
PF-76 jute-cotton 7.1 59.4 1.2 9.3 108
(10/3 roving) [kgm-1]
Table 9(b). Properties of plant fiber hybrid polymer composites as a function of orientation.
System Orientation (Deg) / Tensile Young`s Elongation Ref

Test Direction Strength Modulus (%)
(MPa) (GPa)
Polyester-jute-cotton L (0o to Jute fibre) 115.61 3.10 4.73 115
(60%) T (90o to Jute fibre) 14.8 1.72 6.215
Phenolics-jute-cotton 116
(60%) L (0o) [fabric type 10/4] 58.9 7.1 1.1
Phenolics-jute-cotton L (45o) [fabric type 10/4] 116
(60%) 22.1 4.4 0.6
Phenolics-jute-cotton 116
(60%) L(90o) [fabric type 10/4] 13.8 3.9 0.4
Polyester-jute-glass Jute 51.1 3.30 3.9 108

(50%) Glass 230 8.2 6.1
Polyester-jute-glass- Sisal 45.2 2.54 6.4 108
(55%) Glass 40.5 0.95 14.2
Polyester-banana-glass 2-Layer/warp direction 53 14 114
Polyester-banana-glass 2-Layer/weft direction 100 18 114
Polyester-banana-glass 4-Layer/warp & weft 114
direction 86 21
On the other hand, hybrid composites of bamboo, banana, flax, jute, oil palm and
sisal with glass fibers and sisal-oil palm fibers in different matrices have been
studied elsewhere. Details of these can be seen in Ref. 110. A summary of these
studies is given here: stress-strain curves for three systems namely banana-glass,
bamboo-glass and oil palm-glass hybrids with polyester/phenol
formaldehyde/epoxy matrices have been reported; similar to their mono
composites, properties of hybrid composites of plant fibers-glass fibers are strongly
dependent on the nature and characteristics of individual components such as
volume fractions of fibers, their strength properties, orientation, length of fibers and
fiber-matrix interface; rule of mixture to predict the strength properties as applicable
to mono composites is also applicable to hybrids; tensile, flexural and impact
properties of hybrids show increasing trends with increasing fiber content,
particularly higher when tested along the high strength fiber direction while these
properties are found to be lower when tested in the direction of natural fibers for
lower glass fiber content. The former results are explained as due to (i) better
individual properties of glass fiber, (ii) better adhesion of glass fibers due to
inherent surface modification and (iii) better alignment of glass fiber than the
natural fibers, while the latter to the thickness of natural fibers compared to glass
fiber thus making the content of the latter lower than the required critical volume
fraction, in addition to misalignment of natural fibers and irregular fiber
impregnation at fiber crossing regions. Further, properties of short fiber hybrids are
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reported to be lower than those of woven or non-woven fibers hybrids, while those
of the latter are comparable to those of synthetic fiber composites. Similarly, effects
of modification of either fiber or reinforcement, orientation of fibers and aging on
strength properties have been reported. In brief, surface treatments to fibers
improve the final properties of composite as in their mono composites. For
example, higher elongation was observed at higher fiber contents, while decrease
in properties was observed with increasing test angle.
These have been attributed to rigidity of the fibers used and lower load transfer in
the direction of higher strength fiber and poor fiber-matrix adhesion. Layering with
same volume fraction of fibers also affects the properties of hybrids, particularly the
impact strength. In the case of aging, a generally noticeable reduction of tensile
properties is observed, although some systems did not show much change. The
observed reductions in properties of hybrids have been related to (i) the amount of
water uptake at the ageing temperatures and soaking time, (ii) stress corrosion to
glass fibers due to absorbed moisture through the matrix leading to reduced
adhesion and (iii) the degradation of plant fibers themselves. The microscopic
studies have thrown light on all these aspects.
These are shown in Figure 13(a-f), which reveal some features of the composites,
highlighting the poor and good bonding between the fibers and the matrix, crazing
of matrix as well as some interfacial reactions.
Figure 13. Fractographs of plant fiber-polymer composites: (a) cotton-polymer; (b) cotton-jute-phenolic
resin composite showing pull out in the direction of cotton fiber with holes in the matrix and (c )interface
showing higher jute-matrix adhesion; (d&e) fracture surface of oil palm-epoxy resin composite showing
poor adhesion between the fiber and the matrix as well as the crazing in the matrix. (f) good bonding
between glass fiber and epoxy resin. Reproduced with kind permission of the Publishers
from ref. a-c (8), d-f (109).
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3.3.4. Cement Matrix Composites:

It is well known that cement based materials are brittle exhibiting low tensile strength
and strain to fracture. This can be overcome through composite technology. In this
although asbestos is used for long time, it has been banned by many countries. Hence,
attempts have been made to substitute asbestos in cement, which has led to the
synthesis and study of cement-plant fiber composites since the eighties [163, 170-197].
It has been observed that cement matrix-plant fiber composites behave similarly to
their polymer matrix counter parts in that strength properties increase with increasing
volume fractions of the plant fibers [178]. Also, improved properties have been
observed in cement composites containing acrylic and polystyrene treated plant fibers
fibers [181]. However, very limited studies have been reported on cement matrix
composites containing plant fibers all over the world probably due to the alkaline nature
of the cement, which is mostly used as the matrix. In these studies, wood fibers or flour
or plant fibers and even the pulps of sisal and bamboo have been used as
reinforcements in view of the latter’s inherent properties, particularly the toughness,
even though these properties may decrease on aging [185]. A patent was taken as
early as 1986 in India [176] for the fabrication of short sisal fiber-cement composite with
and without hybridization with small amount of steel fabric, as well as with surface
modification of the fiber. This composite showed load bearing capacity of 2.5kg/cm.
A few successful attempts reported elsewhere include the use of waste sisal as
chemi-thermomechanical (CMTP) pulp or bamboo pulp in cement matrix [194,195]
while coir, bagasse and banana fibers have been used in polymer concrete [193].
Use of plant fibers in cement matrices is not only challenging due to alkaline nature
of the latter but also motivating in view of the unique properties of the former as
mentioned earlier. Also, this requires a small number of trained personnel in the
preparation of such materials in the construction industry [191]. The improvement
of properties including durability of cement-plant fiber composites of course
depends on the length and quantity of the fibers incorporated as well as type of the
fiber used [172,179,180,183,184]. It is also found that fibers with higher lignin
content are preferred for the larger durability in different weathering environments
due to the inherent nature of lignin and hemicellulose to alkaline nature of
cementious materials. Accordingly, only coir, sisal fibers and wood fibers or flour
are preferred although attempts have been made to use banana fiber and bagasse
[172,174,179,180,183,184]. On the other hand, chemical degradation of the plant
fibers can be overcome by reducing the alkalinity of the matrix by the addition of
pozzolanic materials such as blast furnace slag or silica fume, while water
absorption of the fibers by the coating of fibers with water repellent coatings
including soaking in silica fume [174,179,180,182,185,189]. Long-term
performance of cement incorporated plant fiber composites has been studied in
many of the reported studies using both accelerated and actual tests generally by
measuring the porosity, water absorption and strength properties. It is found that
accelerated carbonation aging [exposure to cyclic heat, water soaking followed by
exposing the material particularly the matrix to saturated CO2 atmosphere] is the
best method, where by reduction in the porosity, water absorption, N2 permeability
in the composites could be achieved [185,191]. It is observed that performance of
cement-sisal fiber composite with sisal fibers immersed in silica fume paste is
similar to 28 days untreated control system but exhibiting lower embrittlement of
this composite compared to the control [191]. Also, when exposed to humidity,
these properties are decreased. For example, Flexural strength and fracture
-504-
toughness at relative humidity of 50 % and at 22oC increased from 10.6 MPa and
0.25 MPa3/2 to 20.6 MPa and 1.68 MPa3/2 when the fiber content was increased
from 2 wt% to 12 wt%. Similarly, flexural strength values decreased to 8.6 MPa and
9.3 MPa for 2 and 12 Wt% fiber content while fracture values increased to 0.33 and
1.79 MPa3/2 when the samples were water soaked for 48hrs and then dried with
cloth but tested in wet condition [173].
In Brazil, mostly coir, sisal fibers (up to 5 wt.%) preferentially in the form of fabrics
and wood flour are used in cement mortar while, bagasse, sisal, coir and bamboo
fibers have been used elsewhere. Compression molding, hand lay up and some of
the ceramic matrix fabrication techniques have been used all over the world.
Flexural tests are normally used for brittle cement materials due to its realistic
simulation of practical situations [180]. Another method used to evaluate the
performance of these composites is by load deflection curves. Figure 14(a) shows
typical load deflection curves for cement mortar composite containing 1-3 vol.%
sisal and coir fibers. It can be seen that higher stress and toughness is seen for the
composite containing both sisal and coir than that of matrix or the composite
containing the individual fibers themselves [191]. Also, about 180% increase in first
crack strength was observed even when the fiber length was smaller. Behaviour
such mortar composites with 2-3% sisal fibers alone under indirect tension showed
resistance of mortar to crack propagation in samples with fibers aligned in
transverse direction to splitting plane. This is inferred by the higher values of first
crack strength, critical tensile strength and toughness [189]. It can be seen from the
Figure 14(b) that toughness of composites containing both short and continuously
aligned sisal and coir fibers is higher than that of short sisal fibers. Also, toughness
of aligned continuous fibers even at low fiber content (1 vol. %) is higher than those
of higher fiber content (3 vol.%) short fibers.
Figure 14(b) also shows the influence of fiber volume and their arrangement on the
toughness values of these composites. However, there were no changes in either
Young’s modulus or the Possion’s ratio of the composite. On the other hand, both
strength and toughness increased with strain rate in bamboo pulp containing
cement composite. The increases reported are shown in Table 10(a), while Table
10(b,c) shows the tensile properties of some of the cement-plant fiber composites.
It can be seen that almost all strength properties including toughness show
improvement between 22-180% over the matrix. Also, properties of coir fiber
reinforced cement composites are better than those containing sisal fibers, while
both of them are better (6-21%) than steel wire containing cements mortars
particularly in splitting tensile strength.
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Figure 14(a). Typical load deflection curves for cement mortar composite
containing 1-3 vol. % sisal and coir fibers.
Figure 14(b). Influence of fiber volume and their arrangement on the toughness values of cement
mortar composite containing 1-3 vol.% sisal and coir fibers. Reproduced with kind permission of the
Publisher from ref. 191.
-506-
Table10(a). Average properties of plant fibers –concrete mortar composite. Adapted from ref. 193.
Sample Impact Strength Three Point Bending Modulus of Rupture

(kJmm-2) (kJmm-2) (MPa)
Portland Cement (PC) 0.45 0.015 5.07
PC+8%Bamboo Pulp 0.65 0.28 9.21
Table 10(b). Properties of plant fibers –cement composites.
System Density UTS Bending StrengthN/mm2 Water Absorption. Ref.

(kgm-3) N/mm2 (%)
Bagasse-Cement 1550-1650 1.06-1.14 8.85-9.60 12.5-14.5 196
Coir-Cement 1100 9-11 (MPa) 8-10 163
Table 10(c). Average properties of plant fibers –polymer concrete composite. Adapted from ref. 195.
System Flexural Strength Fracture Toughness Fracture Energy

(MPa) (MPa 3/2) (N/m)
Epoxy-concrete 34.285 2.157 8.578
Bagasse 35.474 2.541 9.946
Banana 27.082 1.678 12.096
Coir 42.896 2.496 17.163
Optimum conditions in bagasse-cement composites are [188] fiber content of 12-

16%, casting pressure of 2-3N/mm2 and 6h of demolding period. This resulted in
tensile density of 1440-1650 kg/mm3, tensile strength of 1.06-1.14 N/mm2, moisture
content of 6.5-6.8% with swelling thickness of 0.3-0.46%. These composites
performed better in outdoor exposures suggesting these have potential for both
indoor and outdoor applications.
On the other hand, the polymer concrete [resin bonded instead of cement binder]
containing individual coir, bagasse and banana fibers showed variation in some
properties [195]. For example, the fracture energy (FE), fracture toughness (FT)
and flexural strength (FS) of increased for coir containing composite to 17.163
N/mm, 2.496 MPa3/2 and 42.896 MPa respectively; there was no change of these
values for bagasse containing composite (FE: 9.946 N/mm, FT: 2.541 MPa3/2 and
FS : 35.474 MPa) showed any significant increase, while for banana fiber
containing composite only FE (12.096 N/mm) showed increase while both FT
(1.678 MPa3/2 and FS(27.082 MPa) decreased. All these values are compared with
those values (8.578 MPa3/2, 2.157 MPa3/2 N/mm and 34.285 MPa3/2 respectively)
for the epoxy-concrete matrix. It is also mentioned that these observed properties
are similar to those of carbon fiber containing epoxy-concrete composites.
Scrivener et al [192] have found reduced toughness after 6 months of exposure in
outdoor or subjected to cyclic wet and dry conditions with embrittlement being
associated with mineralization of the fibers due to migration of hydration products
such as Ca(OH)2 to walls and lumen of fibers. Attempts have also been made to
use polymer-plant fiber composites aged in cement as low cost roofing and silos
[197].
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4. APPLICATIONS OF FIBERS AND COMPOSITE PRODUCTS

DEVELOPMENT:
All the over world, most of the plant fibers are used as fancy articles, in domestic
and industrial sectors. These include bags, lady’s purses, baskets, ropes, carpets,
both domestic and industrial brooms and alternate energy source, etc. In Brazil,
other uses include scouring pads for bathing and as inner soles of shoes (luffa
cylindrica), possibility as oil absorbers, for stuffing of car seats, thermal insulation,
in manufacturing of paper (sugarcane bagasse), fishing lines, for hammocks
(curauá fibers), etc. [1]
The development of plant fiber composites has been motivated by the substitution
of synthetic fiber-polymer composites and even wood in various sectors,
particularly for non-load bearing applications. Successful attempts have been made
to produce various automotive parts, roofing, packaging cases for fruits, paneling,
etc., using both plant fiber-synthetic and biodegradable polymers and some of
which are shown in Figure 15(A). Even though Brazil was the first country to use
plant fiber composites in cars, only prototypes of chairs using coir-tanin-
formaldehyde composite, helmets for cyclists made using castor oil based
polyurethane-curauá fiber composite [the first biodegradable composite in Brazil]
and some automotive parts made using natural rubber-coir composite have been
made. These are shown in Figure 15(B). Also, successful attempts have been
made to produce fabrics of plant fiber-plant fiber or plant fiberglass fiber hybrids
(Figure 15(C)), which showed good bidirectional properties with a possibility to use
them in structural applications. In recent times, attempts are also being made to
use plant oils such as soybean and castor oil cake with some of the plant fibers for
preparing biodegradable composites [169,198].
Figure15 . Products of plant fibers and their composites. A: Elsewhere: (a) Car parts; (b) Roofing; (c)
Door panels; (d) Recycled paper-epoxidized Ssybean oil resin. B: Biodegradable composites -(e) Trays;
(f) Plant pots; (g) Panel for Train window; (h) Furniture. C: In Brazil - (a) Chair; (b) Helmet; (c) Roofing;
(d) Hybrid Fabrics. Reproduced with kind permission of the Publishers from ref. 7,9,11-14,105,198,199.
Courtesy: Elsevier Inc Publishers and NATPAC Biotech – UK; Eds of Proc. ISNaPol, Brasil.
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5. CONCLUDING REMARKS
From the foregoing it becomes evident that plant fibers, forming one of the
abundantly available and renewable resources of all the countries, have been
looked into thoroughly from their unique characteristics. Such studies have not only
generated a good wealth of data on their structure and properties, but also opened
new avenues for exploiting their full potential. This includes mainly the
development of composite materials with both polymer and ceramic matrices.
Studies carried out on the fabrication, structure properties and product
development of such composites have offered many benefits to the society in
general. These include opening up new uses for the fibers thus minimizing their
non-utilization, addressing the environmental safety along with generation of
employment particularly in rural sectors, all of them contributing to the sustainable
world order. But possibility still exists for bringing in improvements in processing of
these fibers and their composites leading to better properties, which in turn brings
bright future for their composites through their massive use in structural and other
needed applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors place on record and appreciate the kind permission given by M/s.
Elsevier Inc Publishers, NATPAC Biotech – UK, Springer, Wiley Publishers, SAGE
Publications to reproduce some of the figures from their publications. They also
thank the kind permission given by the Editors and Publishers of ISNaPol (Prof.
Mattoso), Brazil, Association of Brazilian Metallurgy and Materials as well as
Polímeros: Ciencia e Tecnologia (Drs. Elias Hage Jr. & A.C.R. Filho), Dr.Ramani
Narayan, Prof. P.V. Kandachar, Dr. G.A. Wiedman, Dr. Thomas G. Schuh to
reproduce figures used in this chapter. They also acknowledge the courtesy of Mr.
Fabio Tomczak, Mr. Carlos Eduardo Silva Pinto for giving some of their figures for
using in the chapter and also thank Mr. Gregorio G.C. Arizaga for his constant help
during the preparation of this chapter.
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properties of PHB [Re submitted to Comp. Sci. & Technol. Part A ]
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Termomoldagem Direta de Laminados Compósitos Baseados em Amido Plastificado Com
Glicerol Hidratado Recuperado, Reforçados Com Fibras de Origem Vegetal e/ou Mineral
(Bananeira, Cana de Açúcar, Luffa Cylindrica e De Fibras de Amianto Crisotila). [In
Portuguese] (A process for the manufacture of biodegradable composite from natural fibres
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Fibers), Patent No. PI0602428-9, Granted 4th August 2006.
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[169]. J.L. Guimarães, K.G. Satyanarayana, F. Wypych, L.P. Ramos. (2006).

Termomoldagem Direta de Laminados Compósitos Baseados em Torta de Ricinus
Communis (Mamona) Plastificado Com Glicerol Bruto Recuperado do Processo de
Transesterifacação de Super Vegetais, Reforçados Com Fibras de Origem Natural (In
Portuguese). [A Process for the thermal molding of laminar composites based on castor oil
cake plasticized with recovered glycerol from transesterification process of vegetable oils
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2006.
[170]. T.J. Bessel, S.M. Mutuli. (1982). The interfacial bond strength of sisal cement
composites by tensile test, J. Mater. Sci. Lett., 1 (6),pp. 244-246.
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Compos., 5 (4), pp. 257-262.
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mechanical properties of cellulose fiber cements. J. Mater. Sci., 18 (7), pp. 2156-2162.
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concrete research Institute, Stockholm, Research Fo.1:83, 255.
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IN166439.
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technology and Design, Vol. 1, London - Blackle.
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328;Microstrcture of wood fiber plaster composites, J. Mater. Sci. Lett., 6 (5), 562-564; Fiber
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140-142.
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vegetable fiber-mortar composites of improved durability, Cement & Concrete Compos., 25,
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Botanical Names of Fibers used in this Chapter
Fiber Botanical name

Banana Musa sapientum
Coir Cocus nucifera
Cotton Gossypium M.
Curauá Ananas erectifolius
Flax Linum usitatissimum
Hemp Cannabis sativa
Jute Corchorus capsularis
Kenaf Hibiscus cannabinus
Mesta (Rosella) Hibiscus sibdoriff
Paina Chorisia speciosa
Piaçava Attalea funifera
Pineapple Ananas comoscus
Ramie Boehmeria nivea
Sisal Agave sisalana
Sponge-gourd Luffa cylindrica
Sun Hemp Crotalaria juncea
-522-
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Comparative study of Brazilian natural ﬁbers and their

Chapter · January 2007

Fernando Wypych Luiz Pereira Ramos

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COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BRAZILIAN

Fiber Source World Origin Country

RECYCLABLE DISPERSANTS AND

POLYMER BLENDS RENEWABLE

CARBON FIBERS BUILDING

Figure 1(b). Possible utilization of biomass through different pathways.

It is noteworthy to understand that all governments take necessary steps towards

Non-brittle fracture on impact

2. FIBERS AND COMPOSITES

2.1. Source and Extraction Methods of Fibers

Generally, banana fibers (bast) are extracted manually (though decorticators

providing a balance between performances and cost by proper material design,

2.2.1. Surface Modification of Fibers:

Method Type Fiber Effect observed

Method Type Fiber Effect observed

While no mechanical method seems to be employed in Brazil, steam explosion

2.2.2. Matrix Materials

2.2.3. Reinforcement Materials

2.2.4. Fabrication of Composites

3.1. Techniques and Equipments Used

Icr (%) = [I (2θ) / Total area] x 100 [1]

3.2. Characterization of Fibers and Matrices

α -Cellulose Lignin Fiber Dimensions Density

Fiber Microfibr Young´s Ultimate Tensile Elongation Flexural

Figure 5(a-f) show photomicrographs of cross sections of various fibers, while

Yf = WcYccos2θ + WncYnc [3]

Pth = Pobs = KCa1 (L/D)a2 θ a3+A [4]

Similarly, detailed literature is published on the internal structure of various fibers

with their length or diameter is explained by incorporating the role of defects in

Material Treatment Density Tensile Moisture Crystallinit Reference

3.3. Structure and Properties of Composites

3.3.1. Non biodegradable Composites:

Figure 9. Stress-strain curves for different plant fiber-polymer composites.

properties of composites increase with fibers having decreasing microfibrillar angle

Table 7. Properties of polymer- plant fibers – composites

System Treatment UTS YM FS FM IS Ref.

System Content (%) UTS YM Elong. FS FM IS

3.3.2. Biodegradable Composites:

3.3.3. Hybrid Composites:

System Orientation (Deg) / Tensile Young`s Elongation Ref

Polyester-jute-glass Jute 51.1 3.30 3.9 108

3.3.4. Cement Matrix Composites:

Sample Impact Strength Three Point Bending Modulus of Rupture

Table 10(b). Properties of plant fibers –cement composites.

System Density UTS Bending StrengthN/mm2 Water Absorption. Ref.

System Flexural Strength Fracture Toughness Fracture Energy

Optimum conditions in bagasse-cement composites are [188] fiber content of 12-

4. APPLICATIONS OF FIBERS AND COMPOSITE PRODUCTS

[41].http://personales.ciudad.com.ar/ecoespon/portugues/principal.html (accessed February

[134]. O. Owolabi, T. Czvikovszky, I. Kovacs (1985), Coconut fiber-reinforced thermosetting

[169]. J.L. Guimarães, K.G. Satyanarayana, F. Wypych, L.P. Ramos. (2006).

Botanical Names of Fibers used in this Chapter

Fiber Botanical name

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