Natural fibres for composite materials

Natural fiber polymer composites (NFPCs) represent an important step towards a new kind of technology that can be sustainable by combining the benefits of natural fibers with the traditional polymer composites, offering both environment friendliness whilst still being mechanically strong and versatile. This thesis explores how the combination between natural fiber with composite materials can lead to the creation of a new type of material that can achieve great reduction in weight and with an increase in strength in the construction of aerospace parts. As a consequence, these new materials can have other benefits, like lowering fuel consumption and increasing the payload capacity by replacing traditional synthetic fibers that their non-renewability as a drawback. Moreover, the different properties, classifications and manufacturing processes are also presented, giving examples of studies already done together with their conclusive results in terms of advantages and disadvantages. This work also shows how the interface between the natural fibers and polymer matrices is a crucial factor in the performance of NFPCs. Using methods like surface treatment and coupling agents can increase their adhesion. Their current disadvantages in thermal properties and fire resistance, which play a crucial role when NFPCs are used in aerospace components, are also discussed. Ultimately, focus on recent advancements in NFPCs and different techniques developed to use bio-based composites in aerospace materials as a new solution to increase the sustainability and performance are made. This thesis underlines how not only NFPCs are a good contribution from a scientific understanding point, but have the potential to revolutionize material engineering in the aerospace industry.