Review of Functional Properties of Natural Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites: Thermal Insulation, Biodegradation and Vibration Damping Properties

Natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites are attracting researchers’ attention as environmentally friendly and sustainable materials because of their low environmental load imposed by manufacture and disposal. Natural fiber-reinforced composites have comparable or somewhat inferior mechanical performance when compared to glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP), but have some unique characteristics, which include low thermal conductivity, biodegradation in natural environments and effective suppression of vibration. This paper presents a review of the typical functionalities of natural fiber-reinforced composites including thermal insulation property, biodegradable property and vibration damping property. As described herein, the author will introduce each functionality and discuss the effects of many factors affecting the performance of each function. Consequently, this paper reports that composite materials that fully use their functionality rather than mechanical performance are important for the future development of natural fiber-reinforced composites.