Developing Sustainable Materials for Marine Environments: Algae as Natural Fibers on Polymer Composites

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for the use of sustainable materials in marine applications. Thus, the ability of using raw-materials directly from ocean waste effectively contributes to enhance circularity by design in these sensitive ecosystems. Considering the favorable strength-to-weight ratio of composite materials, they usually tend to get selected for nautical applications. In these polymer composites, glass fibers and carbon fibers are usually chosen as reinforcements due to their specific strength and ease of manipulation. However, the use of natural fibers as fillers for composites in marine applications would be beneficial due to the fact that they are biodegradable and have a much lower environmental impact than glass or carbon fibers. Thus, the purpose of current research is to test and assess the use of red algae as filler for polymer composites in marine applications.