Thermal Stability and Flame Retardancy of Epoxy/Natural Fiber Composites

Abstract

Natural fiber polymer composites (NFPCs) are materials of high-strength natural fiber-reinforced polymer matrices. With their eco-friendly nature and sustainability, NFPCs are getting more attention in academy and industrials to utilize natural fibers for potential applications, such as construction, automobile, marine, aerospace, and other applications. The mechanical characteristics and failure behaviors of NFPCs have been studied to compare with those of synthetic fiber-based composites. However, to replace the metal- or ceramic-based materials in the applications, an improvement of thermal stabilities, flame resistance, and dimensional stability at high temperature, which may extend their potential multidirectional applications, has also been presented.With such context, this chapter provides the natural fiber-reinforced epoxy composites that showed high temperature stability and good flame retardancy and their applications. The effect of types and contents of natural fibers, modified surface fibers, and the addition of flame retardant on glass transition temperature, thermal degradation temperature, and flame retardancy of the composites have been investigated. Moreover, the important characteristics, such as physical and mechanical properties including strength under tensile, flexure, and impact loads, as well as water resistance, were also described.KeywordsThermosetting polymerCopolymersBiobased epoxyThermal propertyMechanical propertyFriction