Green Composites for Automotive Applications

Georgios Koronis, Arlindo Silva

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780081021774
• eBook ISBN:
  9780081021781
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Green Composites for Automotive Applications presents cutting-edge, comprehensive reviews on the industrial applications of green composites. The book provides an elaborative assessment of both academic and industrial research on eco-design, durability issues, environmental performance, and future trends. Particular emphasis is placed on the processing and characterization of green composites, specific types of materials, such as thermoset and thermoplastic, nanocomposites, sandwich, and polymer biofoams. Additional sections cover lifecycle and risk analysis. As such, this book is an essential reference resource for R&D specialists working in materials science, automotive, chemical, and environmental engineering, as well as R&D managers in industry. - Contains contributions from leading experts in the field - Covers experimental, analytical and numerical analysis - Deals with most important automotive aspects - Provides a special section dedicated to lifecycle assessment

Part I

Processing and characterization of green composites

Outline

1. Chapter 1. Surface modification of natural fibers in polymer composites
2. Chapter 2. Flammability performance of biocomposites

Chapter 1

Surface modification of natural fibers in polymer composites

Diana P. Ferreira^a, Juliana Cruz, and Raul Fangueiro Centre for Textile Science and Technology (2C2T), University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract

Over the past few years, fibrous materials have found widespread applications in different technological areas including the automotive industry due to their versatile properties. Natural fibers, in particular, are cheap, abundant, biocompatible, and biodegradable, which has motivated many researchers worldwide to explore their potential applications in various industrial sectors. Nevertheless, these types of fibers show some limitations such as high moisture absorption and subsequent swelling and degradation, poor fire resistance, nonhomogeneity of their mechanical properties and poor interfacial interactions with polymeric or cementitious matrices.

The fibers surface functionalization using different approaches like physical, chemical, or biological could be the solution to overcome most of the drawbacks related to the use of natural fibers, especially the compatibility between the fiber and the polymeric matrix. Herein, a detailed description of the techniques commonly employed in the modification of natural cellulose fibers will be presented. Several examples will also be shown regarding the application of these natural fibers in polymer composites for possible use in automotive applications.

Keywords

Automotive applications; Chemical and biological treatments; Green composites; Nanoparticles; Natural fibers; Physical; Polymers

Chapter Outline

1. 1.1 Introduction
2. 1.2 Properties of natural fibers
3. 1.3 Surface modification techniques
   1. 1.3.1 Physical methods
      1. 1.3.1.1 Plasma treatment
      2. 1.3.1.2 Ultrasound and ultraviolet treatments
   2. 1.3.2 Chemical methods
      1. 1.3.2.1 Alkali treatment
      2. 1.3.2.2 Silane treatment
      3. 1.3.2.3 Acetylation
      4. 1.3.2.4 Benzoylation
      5. 1.3.2.5 Maleated coupling treatment
      6. 1.3.2.6 Graft copolymerization
      7. 1.3.2.7 Other chemical treatments
4. 1.4 Physical and chemical methods as treatments for natural fiber polymer composites (NFPCs)
   1. 1.4.1 Effects of plasma treatment on NFPCs
   2. 1.4.2 Natural fibers—chemical treatments and their influence on NFPCs
5. 1.5 Biological methods as an alternative to chemical/physical treatments
   1. 1.5.1 Enzymatic treatment
   2. 1.5.2 Fungal treatment
   3. 1.5.3 Bacterial cellulose coating
6. 1.6 Nanoparticles deposition/functionalization
7. 1.7 Concluding remarks and future trends
8. References

1.1. Introduction

Fibers are the basic building block of many materials and despite the fact that, for years, these structures have been mainly applied in textiles manufacturing, they have strong potential for widespread applications. The most common areas of applications are: in the automotive industry, medical field, civil engineering, aerospace industries, among others [1–5]. In the last few years, the development of new materials based on fibers revealed the huge potential of these materials to improve the quality of human life. The constituents of these fibrous materials may be of natural or synthetic origin. Natural fibers, including cellulosic, protein, and mineral fibers are collected directly from nature and are considered environmentally friendly materials. On the other hand, synthetic fibers are man-made and despite being the most used fiber for new materials development, they raise several environmental issues. These nonrenewable resources generate large amounts of waste at the end of the product lifecycle and require a long time for their complete degradation [6,7]. In the last few years, there is a great deal of concern about the replacement of synthetic materials by natural ones in order to reduce the cost, the production of CO₂ and oil dependence, as well as problems related to materials recycling. It is estimated that 20%–25% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized countries come from the transportation industry. Therefore, the challenge is to develop lightweight and low price composites based on natural fibers to be used in the automotive industry in order to turn automobiles more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly [8]. Many automotive components are already produced with natural composites based on fibers like flax, hemp, and sisal. Table 1.1 presents several automotive industries that are already using natural fibers in the automobile components [8].

Natural fibers have high strength, high modulus of elasticity, high moisture absorption, and low elongation and elasticity when compared to non-natural fibers [11,12]. Natural fibers can be classified according to their origin into animal, vegetable, or mineral. Animal fibers include fibers such as silk, hair, wool, and feather and are proteinaceous in nature [13]. Vegetable fibers, on the other hand, are generally based on arrangements of cellulose with lignin including cotton, hemp, jute, flax, kenaf,...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Part I. Processing and characterization of green composites
• Part II. Thermosetting and thermoplastic materials for structural applications
• Part III. Nanomaterials and additive manufacturing composites
• Part IV. Life cycle assessment and risk analysis
• Index