A review on extraction, chemical treatment, characterization of natural fibers and its composites for potential applications

Abstract

In recent days, natural fiber reinforced polymer composite is more popular due to its extensive properties suitable for various potential applications. The attention towards natural fibers is because of low cost, biodegradable, recyclability, nonabrasive, combustible, lightweight, and nontoxic properties. However, there is a need for furthermore fundamental knowledge for the raw materials processing and fabrication of composite structures, which is still challenging in current days. Natural fiber sources exist all over the world, which is obtained from animals, plants and minerals. The quality of the natural fibers depends on the extraction methods and different processing techniques. These natural fibers surface characteristics could be enhanced by selecting suitable surface treatment and chemical treatment. These fiber treatments reduce the water intake percentage, improve the adhesive nature, and enhance the overall performance of resulting polymer composites. Among all the chemical treatments, alkaline treatment (NaOH) is the most preferred chemical treatment because of its effectiveness and its low cost. This review article proposes the natural fibers detailed classification, composition, structure, properties, and extraction methods, chemical and surface treatments. We also summarize the previous research work findings on the fibers treatment, properties of natural/natural hybrid polymer composites and natural/synthetic hybrid polymer composites with applications.