Tensile Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymers: An Overview

This paper deals with tensile properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Natural fibers have recently found increasing use in various fields as an alternative to synthetic fiber reinforced polymers. Due to this they have become attractive to engineers, researchers and scientists. Natural fibers are replacing conventional fibers such as glass, aramid and carbon due to their eco-friendly nature, lesser cost, good mechanical properties, better specific strength, bio-degradability and non-abrasive characteristics. The adhesion between the fibers and the matrix highly influence the tensile properties of both thermoset and thermoplastic natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. In order to enhance the tensile properties by improving the strength of fiber and matrix bond many chemical modifications are normally employed. In most cases the tensile strengths of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites are found to increase with higher fiber content, up to a maximum level and then drop, whereas the Young’s modulus continuously increases with increasing fiber loading. It has been experimentally found that tensile strength and Young’s modulus of reinforced composites increased with increase in fiber content [1].