Natural and man-made fibres: Physical and mechanical properties

Abstract: A fibre is a unit of matter characterized by flexibility, fineness and a high ratio of length to thickness. Because fibres have a high surface to volume ratio, they can be extremely strong materials. According to their origin, textile fibres may be classified as natural fibres, when they occur in nature in fibre form, and man-made fibres, when they do not occur in nature in fibre form. This chapter addresses the relationship between their structure and properties, and their use in civil engineering applications, such as road construction, bridges, non-structural gratings and claddings, structural systems for industrial supports, buildings, long-span roof structures, tanks, thermal insulators, etc.