Plant fibres have a unique set of properties ranging from
being
stiff and brittle, such
as hemp and flax, to more ductile, such as coir,
c
ombining these properties with their
cost and availability makes them attractive alternative reinforcements
for
the
production of greener
composites
.
This article reviews
the tensile
properties of
various plant
fibre
or plant based natural fibre
-
reinforced polymer
s
reported in
the
literature
. We
critically
discuss
the use of plant fibres as reinforcement for the
production of bio
-
based
,
renewable or green
polymer composites
, showing t
he evolution of the properties of plant fibre composites.
The
reported
tensile properties
of plant fibre
-
reinforced polymer composites
are
compared against various renewable
and
n
on
-
renewable
engineering/commodity
polymers as well as the tensile properties
of commercially available
randomly oriented
glass fibre
-
reinforced polymers (GFRP).
G
reen composites containing random short plant fibres
do
have similar properties to
randomly oriented GFRP at a lower overall part weight. U
nidirectional plant fibre
-
reinf
orced polymers
offer better performance than randomly oriented GFRP and could
have the potential to be adapted in applications requiring even
higher
mechanical
performance,
especially in areas
where the
use
of
costly
synthetic fibres might be less
attracti
ve
. Furthermore, plant fibres
can
also be regarded as effective fillers to replace
more expensive polymer
s
and improve the green credential
s
of final composite parts.
These features may motivate the industry to introduce more plant fibre
-
based products
to
the market.