Applications and Drawbacks of Epoxy/Natural Fiber Composites

Abstract

Epoxy is a thermosetting polymer and due to its versatile characteristic it is made useful as matrix material in fabrication of polymer composite. Wide diversity of epoxy composites make its application in different industries such as coating, insulator, electric components, adhesives, sound acquisition, automobile, packaging, construction material, etc. The major application of epoxy composites is in the area of thermal insulation such as electric switch board, decorative article coating, tiles, and other civil constructions works. Another important property of epoxy composite is of good electric insulator as compared to metal matrix composites. But there are also some limitations such as low impact strength, nonbiodegradability, delamination, brittleness, and fracture toughness behavior, which limit its applications. To overcome these limitations, certain measures have been taken by different researchers such as incorporation of natural fibers, modification in chemical structure, particle reinforcement, etc.. Natural fibers come out as one of the prominent sources of reinforcement material for polymer composites due to their high strength and modulus of the fibers, fiber dispersion, fiber-matrix adhesion, and increase in toughness of the matrix. In this chapter overview of natural fibers with their advantages and disadvantages as reinforcement material in polymer composites has been provided. Studies of thermosetting polymer mainly epoxy resin including its thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties also have been done. Comparison of thermosetting resin with thermoplastic resin and curing stages of epoxy composites is discussed. Application of epoxy composites reinforced with natural fiber as thermal and electrical insulator is done in detail.