Rheology of Epoxy/Natural Fiber Composites

Abstract

The need for high strength to weight ratio, high wear resistance, and high thermal resistance have challenged the materials to have multifaceted properties in a single sheet in the form of composite. Recent advances in the materials such as natural polymer composites received an ample attention in the scientific community and found their applications toward aerospace, automotive, and biomedical industries. As not much commercial aspect has received in the industry due to their complexities involved in processing the raw material to a finished product, most of the work is still constrained to laboratory. Alongside an assignment of rheological behavior has very limited research in literature which actually is more crucial in dictating the desired composite property. In lieu of this, the current paper discourses the types of natural fibers and their processing routes followed by rheological studies which allows the understanding of basic characteristic of processing of natural fiber composites.