PROCESSING TECHNIQUES AND DEGRADATION BEHAVIOR OF SUSTAINABLE POLYMERIC COMPOSITES

Abstract

Development of sustainable materials is an area where efforts are being put worldwide for ensuring judicious as well as optimal utilization of available resources. Composite materials signify a class of materials with abundant opportunities and possess the tremendous potential to be exploited in various applications such as; aerospace, automobile, building and construction [1]–[5]. The use of composite materials has multiplied manifold owing to their superior combination of properties, usually difficult to achieve using traditional/conventional engineering materials. However, the non-biodegradability, non-recyclability and nonrenewability of most of the currently used composite materials is a major limitation and is motivating the researchers and scientists to explore the feasibility of conceptualizing, designing and developing composite materials based on sustainable resources. The research community has identified the natural fibers as an alternative to overcome the challenges associated with the biodegradability, recyclability and sustainability. Now-a-days, the research effort have been focused on the various challenges associated with the processing of these materials. The current chapter presents an overview of composite materials, natural fibers, challenges with composite materials, different techniques that have been developed world wide for processing of short fiber based composites. The outcome of various processing parameters on the performance of the injection molded composites has also been highlighted