Abstract
The need to find a sustainable alternative to the man-made fibers used in reinforcing composites has led the automotive manufacturers and parts suppliers to shift to natural fiber reinforcements. Early versions of natural fiber composite (NFC) were only limited to non-structural parts; however, with the ongoing intensive research, the idea to use NFC in more structural and exterior parts is rapidly expanding. Vegetable fibers are the major class of natural fibers used in the automotive, due to their high specific properties in addition to their high thermal and acoustical insulation. This chapter is dedicated to discussing recent practices on natural fiber composites in the automotive industry. The history of adoption of NFC, from Henry Ford’s hemp car in the 1930 till Polestar flax interior panels in 2020, is presented. The technical data on the materials used, including natural fibers and bio-based matrices, is discussed. Finally, up-to-date statistics on world production and global market of vegetable fibers and bioplastics is provided.
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Elseify, L.A., Midani, M., El-Badawy, A., Jawaid, M. (2021). Natural Fibers in the Automotive Industry. In: Manufacturing Automotive Components from Sustainable Natural Fiber Composites. SpringerBriefs in Materials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83025-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83025-0_1
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