A Review on Natural Fibre-Based Composites-Part I

Abstract Natural fibre-based composites have been intensely studied in the last years due to their specific properties and their clearly positive environmental impact. Other advantages of using vegetable fibres are related to their economical production and processing, their safe handling and working conditions. Therefore, lignocellulosic natural fibres constitute an interesting alternative to traditional synthetic fibres in composite materials. This work is intended to present an overview of the main results presented in literature on this topic, focusing the attention on the fibres properties in terms of physical and chemical structure, thermal and mechanical properties. Some aspects related to the production of vegetable fibres for composites are also presented.