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Abstract Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs) have emerged as promising eco‐friendly alternatives over conventional synthetic fiber composites due to their inherent biodegradability, renewability, low environmental impact, and lightweight properties. It has been seen a significant growth in both invention and innovation in the field of NFRPCs. Natural fibers (NFs) reduce the cost of the material by 5%, the weight of the composite by 10%, and the energy required for production by 80%. In terms of thermal, and acoustic properties, NFs can successfully compete with synthetic fibers. As a result, the development of NFRPCs for industrial use has increased significantly in the past decade to meet the growing demands of industrial sectors. To improve the thermal and acoustic properties of NFRPCs, researchers have done a lot of investigation. The aim of the current review is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature on the thermal and acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, TGA, DSC, DMA, and acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced composites with several parameters, such as different fiber types, different matrix types, fiber weight ratio, fiber to matrix ratio, chemical treatment of fiber have been summarized and analyzed very concisely. This review also emphasizes a summary of different natural fibers, their chemical compositions, composite preparation, characterizations, and future research directions. This article enables the readers, researchers, and manufacturers to realize several opportunities about the latest developments in NFRPCs for the application of thermal and acoustic purposes. Highlights Natural fibers can successfully compete with synthetic fibers, in terms of thermal and acoustic properties. Thermal properties of natural fiber reinforced composites including thermal conductivity, TGA, DSC, and DMA are summarized. Acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites are discussed. Composite materials made of treated fibers result better thermal stability than untreated fiber composites. Sound absorption coefficient generally increases as fiber content increases.
Dev et al. (Wed,) studied this question.