SAMPE Journal - March/April 2023 - 11

INTRODUCTION
The global number of passenger vehicles is
forecasted to rise from 1,102 million in 2017 to
1,980 million by 20401
, with the transportation
sector responsible for about 23% of total global CO2
emissions and road transportation contributing
about 72% within that sector2
. Lightweighting has a
major impact on fuel efficiency. A 10% reduction in
vehicle weight can result in a 6%-8% fuel economy
improvement3
Amongst the technologies enabling
lightweighting of vehicle structures, fiber-reinforced
plastics (FRPs) stand-out.
(performance/density)
These composite
materials are ideal to offer optimal structural
efficiency
compared
to conventional metals such as aluminum and
steel, with glass fibers (GFRPs) accounting for
the largest share of automotive composites and a
smaller share occupied by carbon fiber composites
(CFRPs). One of the major drawbacks of the mass
adoption of GFRP and CFRP solutions for high
volume automotive components is the associated
poor sustainability when considering the full lifecycle
assessment of a vehicle. Polymers reinforced
with synthetic fibers such as carbon and glass are
non-biodegradable,
non-renewable,
. Lightweighting is particularly
relevant to promote the widespread adoption of
electric vehicles.
where crashworthiness is key to the safety of the
passengers as well as to the protection of critical
vehicle components such as battery packs in
Electric Vehicles (EV) and pressure vessels
in
hydrogen powered vehicles.
Most of the attempts to increase the mechanical
performance of NFRPs have focused on microscale
strategies via engineering the fiber/matrix interface
with surface treatments of the fibers and/or
polymer modifications. Mesoscale enhancement
strategies such as NFRP fiber hybridization
with inorganic fibers have shown large benefits
in improving mechanical performance of the
composite. For instance, tensile strength and
flexural strength of coir-polyester composites can
be increased by about 100% and by more than
50%, respectively, by adding 0.05 volume fraction
of glass7
methods,
. Constituent-independent enhancement
such
as
non-conventional
fiber
architectures still remain unexploited in industrial
applications. Inefficient fiber architectures often
result in FRPs with poor damage resistance8
. For
this, conventional structures are overdesigned
leading to material overconsumption and excess
weight. Smartly adopting non-conventional fiber
non-fully
recyclable and they often require energy intensive
processes for the production of the raw material
constituents. Natural fibers composites (NFRPs)
offer an opportunity to bring a paradigm shift
to structural components in the transportation
industry. Natural fibers have many advantages due
to their abundance, availability, and low cost. It
takes 6500 BTUs of energy to produce 1 pound of
kenaf, whereas it takes almost 4 times that much
of energy to produce 1 pound of glass fiber4
. This
results in composites with a much lower embodied
energy.
However, the widespread adoption of NFRPs
is hindered by a relatively low mechanical
performance compared to the less sustainable
glass(carbon)
fibers,
wide
distribution
of
mechanical performance, poor fiber-matrix
interfacial bonding, poor wettability, water
absorption, moisture absorption, and low thermal
stability which restrict the range of temperature
of manufacturing and final applications5,6
. The
lack of sufficient strength, stiffness, impact
performance and dimensional stability has limited
the use of NFRPs to non-loadbearing automotive
applications (e.g. door panels, floor panels, trunk
panels and seat backs). Impact performance is
particularly important in automotive applications
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MARCH APRIL 2023
|
SAMPE JOURNAL |
11
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SAMPE Journal - March/April 2023

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