ICNF 2017 - 3rd International Conference on Natural Fibers
Rajesh Anandjiwala
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"Natural Fibres for Technical Applications in Value-added Products"
CSIR Materials Science and Manufacturing, South Africa |
Biography
Dr. Rajesh Anandjiwala has earned a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Leeds, England in Textile Engineering. He has 7 years of research and development experience in the textile industry in India and 7 years in academic research in the US. Currently, since February 2000; Dr. Anandjiwala is working at CSIR and he is Chief Researcher, Nonwovens & Composites Research Group, Polymer and Composite Competence Area of CSIR Materials Science and Manufacturing at Port Elizabeth. Dr. Anandjiwala is also an Honorary Professor at the Post-graduate Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Science of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth.
Dr. Anandjiwala has published more than 85 peer-reviewed journal papers, his current H index is 23 and he has presented about 50 papers in various international seminars and conferences. He has also presented about 12 invited plenary presentations in international conferences.
Dr. Anandjiwala is a Fellow of the Textile Institute, Manchester and a member of International Fibre Society, USA and rated as Established Researcher by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
Abstract
Natural fibres, such as flax, hemp, kenaf and jute, are gaining increasing importance in automotive, aerospace, packaging, fibre-reinforced composites and other technical and industrial applications. This is due to the fact that natural fibres offer competitive specific tensile properties, in some cases even better than glass fibres. Moreover, other advantages of the natural fibres include carbon dioxide sequestration, ease and flexibility of manufacturing and environmental friendliness besides derived from the renewable resources. The market scenario for composite applications is changing due to the introduction of newer bio-degradable polymers, such as PLA synthesized from corn, development of composite manufacturing techniques and new stringent environmental laws requiring improved recyclability or biodegradability for industrial applications where stress bearing capacities and micro-mechanical failures dictate serviceability. Bast fibre reinforced composites, made from bio-degradable polymers, will have to compete with conventional composites in terms of their mechanical behaviour. Bio-composites, in which natural fibres, such as kenaf, jute, flax, hemp, sisal, corn stalk, bagasse or even grass are embedded in a biodegradable matrix, made as bioplastics from soybean, corn and sugar, have opened-up new possibilities for applications in automotive and building products. Obviously, new approaches to research and development will be required to improve their mechanical properties, such as tensile, bending and impact resistance to match their performance and commercial competitiveness against petroleum based products. The research community has to look at the various possibilities of combining natural fibres, such as sisal, flax, hemp and jute with polymer matrices from non-renewable and renewable resources to develop cost effective biocomposites. This paper will present the newer products and techniques that can improve the properties of bast fibre based composites as well as potential structural and non-structural applications which can increase their market share. Other technical products manufactured from the natural fibres for industrial applications will be also discussed.