A Comprehensive Review on Advanced Sustainable Woven Natural Fibre Polymer Composites

Abstract

Over the last decade, the progressive application of natural fibres in polymer composites has had a major effect in alleviating environmental impacts. Recently, there is a growing interest in the development of green materials in a woven form by utilising natural fibres from lignocellulosic materials for many applications such as structural, non-structural composites, household utilities, automobile parts, aerospace components, flooring, and ballistic materials. Woven materials are one of the most promising materials for substituting or hybridising with synthetic polymeric materials in the production of natural fibre polymer composites (NFPCs). These woven materials are flexible, able to be tailored to the specific needs and have better mechanical properties due to their weaving structures. Seeing that the potential advantages of woven materials in the fabrication of NFPC, this paper presents a detailed review of studies related to woven materials. A variety of factors that influence the properties of the resultant woven NFRC such as yarn characteristics, fabric properties as well as manufacturing parameters were discussed. Past and current research efforts on the development of woven NFPCs from various polymer matrices including polypropylene, polylactic acid, epoxy and polyester and the properties of the resultant composites were also compiled. Last but not least, the applications, challenges, and prospects in the field also were highlighted.

Keywords: fabric; natural fibre; strength; weave; woven composite; yarn.

Figure 1

The connection between fibre, yarn, and fabric properties in textile composite point of view.

Figure 2

A sketch of different types of yarn. (a) simple ply yarn, (b) double-ply yarn, (c) three-ply yarn, (d) four-ply yarn and, (e) simple cord yarn. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Mobarak Hossain et al. [96]. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Figure 3

Yarn processing flow chart of the conventional ring-spinning process. Figure reproduced from Alagirusamy and Das [101] with copyright permission from Elsevier.

Figure 4

Effect of twist on the strength of yarn. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Miao et al. [105].

Figure 5

Yarn with different twist angles: (a) 15°; (b) 30°; and (c) 45°. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Anike et al. [106].

Figure 6

Yarn structure of (a) ring yarn and (b) compact yarn. Source: Figure republished from El-Sayed and Sanad [120] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 7

The warp and weft yarns in the fabric structure.

Figure 8

Woven fabric from kenaf yarn with 3D images from WiseTex software (a) Plain, (b) Twill, (c) Satin, and (d) Basket. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Othman et al. [127]. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Figure 9

(a) Woven fabric from kenaf yarn with plain weave pattern (b) types of stitch patterns used in this study. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Yaakob et al. [92]. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Figure 10

Schematic representation of comingled woven fabric (a) top view (b) side view. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Awais et al. [95] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 11

Schematic representation of comingled knitted fabric (a) top view (b) side view. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Awais et al. [95] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 12

Micrograph images of woven silk, cotton, lyocel, and bamboo after immersion in sodium hydroxide solution for several times interval. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Morris et al. [32]. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Figure 13

Graphic process of (a) hybrid woven fabric, and (b) composite laminates using hot-press technique. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Kandola et al. [87] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 14

SEM images of the fractured surface of tensile tested specimens at two different magnifications of (a) jute/PP, and (b) sisal/PP. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Kandola et al. [87] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 15

SEM images of the fractured surface of tensile tested specimens at two different magnifications of (a) jute/PLA, and (b) sisal/PLA. Source: Figure republished from Kandola et al. [87] with permission from Elsevier.

Figure 16

Bamboo fabric-PLA composite laminates with different fabric layups formed using (a) hot tooling and (b) cold tooling conditions. Source: Figure reproduced with copyright permission from Fazita et al. [159]. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).