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
