News
Natural Fibre Composites-A New Frontier in Automotive Sector
28 May 2020
Green marketing, new directives on recycling, social influence, and change of cognitive values have led the consumer towards environmentally friendly products. Hence, natural fibers based composites can play a significant role in the futuristic engineering product especially in the “automobiles sector”.
The natural fibers can be extracted from animals, plants, and minerals”. Plant-based natural fibers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which can be derived from bast, leaf, seed, fruit, wood, stalk, and grass/reed, are widely used in the manufacturing of automobile parts. This is mainly due to the short growth period, renewability, and wider availability. Moreover, benefits such as availability, low cost, low density, acceptable modulus-weight ratio, high acoustic damping, low manufacturing energy consumption, low carbon footprint, and biodegradable making it a potent material for automotive applications.
According to Composites World March 2016 article, “Natural fiber composites: Market share, one part at a time, the natural fibers industry continues to develop and the automotive industry has helped lead the way with its adoption of natural fibers for door panels, seatbacks, and trunk liners.
Germany-based International Automotive Components (IAC) has launched its Fiber Frame natural fiber sunroof frame on the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which is reportedly the first automotive roof frame entirely made of nonwoven natural fiber composites. The proprietary innovation is made of 70% renewable raw material content in the form of natural fiber and, therefore, is said to provide up to 50% weight savings, compared to conventional metal-reinforced sunroof frames.
Therefore, tight your seat belt and get ready for a ride on the natural fiber composites. It will be proven to be a “New Frontier in Automobile Sector” in the upcoming times.