Chapter 8 - Mechanical properties of coir and coir-based hybrid polymeric composites

Abstract

The ever-burgeoning need for humanity to produce lighter, tougher and cost-effective material has led to the development of composites. The utilization of natural fibers as a replacement to man-made synthetic fiber in fiber-reinforced polymeric composites have increased and opened up further industrial possibilities. The main advantages of using natural fibers are low density, non-abrasive, non-corrosive, inherent biodegradability, low cost, higher specific strength and stiffness, easily available and recyclable. Despite its merits, major impediments of using natural fibers are hydrophilic nature, limited thermal stability and poor adhesion with adjacent counterparts. Hence, hybridizing natural and synthetic fibers will provide superior properties for advanced application. Moreover, it reduces the usage of synthetic fiber in polymeric composites. The main advantage of hybrid composites relies on the fact that the benefit of one type of fiber could surpass the limitations of another fiber. This chapter addresses the mechanical properties of coir fiber-reinforced different polymeric composites with surface modifications and nanofiller modified polymeric composites. Moreover, the effect of hybridizing other natural and synthetic fibers with coir fiber has been discussed in detail.