Fibre Reinforced Composites: Constituents, Compatibility, Perspectives and Applications (Woodhead Publishing Series in Composites Science and Engineering)

Polymer-based fibre-reinforced composites FRC's have now come out as a major class of structural materials being used or regarded as substituent's for metals in several critical components in space, automotive and other industries (marine, and sports goods) owing to their low density, strength-weight ratio, and fatigue strength. FRC's have several commercial as well as industrial applications ranging from aircraft, space, automotive, sporting goods, marine, and infrastructure. The above-mentioned applications of FRC's clearly reveal that FRC's have the potential to be used in a broad range of different engineering fields with the added advantages of low density, and resistance to corrosion compared to conventional metallic and ceramic composites. However, for scientists/researchers/R&D's to fabricate FRC's with such potential there should be careful and precise design followed by suitable process development based on properties like mechanical, physical, and thermal that are unique to each application. Hence the last few decades have witnessed considerable research on fibre reinforced composites.

Fibre Reinforced Composites: Constituents, Compatibility, Perspectives and Applications presents a widespread all-inclusive review on fibre-reinforced composites ranging from the different types of processing techniques to chemical modification of the fibre surface to enhance the interfacial adhesion between the matrix and fibre and the structure-property relationship. It illustrates how high value composites can be produced by efficient and sustainable processing methods by selecting different constituents [fibres and resins]. Researchers in academia working in composites and accompanying areas [materials characterisation] and industrial manufacturers who need information on composite constituents and how they relate to each other for a certain application will find the book extremely useful when they need to make decisions about materials selection for their products.

• Focuses on the different types of FRC's that are currently available (e.g. from polymeric matrices to metallic and ceramic matrices, from carbon fibre to different types of natural fibres and from short to long fibre reinforced), their processing techniques, characterization of different properties, and how to improve the interfacial adhesion between an incompatible fibre and matrix and their applications
• Looks at crisis areas such as how to incorporate incompatible fibres and matrices together (e.g. Non-polar polypropylene matrix is not compatible with that of polar natural fibres and hence suitable surface modifications are required to make them compatible with each other) along with low cost processing methods, low density and high strength
• Uncovers clarifications to both elementary and practical problems related to the fabrication of FRCs
• Schematic representations depicting the interaction between different fibre types and matrices will be provided in some chapters

Kuruvilla Joseph is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India. His research areas include nanomaterials and nanocomposites, polymer blends and composites, synthesis of polymers from natural resources, green materials and biocomposites, aging and degradation, and development of biosensors.

Prof. Oksman has been chair professor and director of Composite Centre at Luleå University of Technology, Division of Materials Science, since 2006 and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Forestry, Canada since 2006. She is the editor on Biocomposites for Elsevier’s Composites Part A. Prof. Oksman has been working with natural fiber composites for more than 25 years and the last 12 years focusing on biobased nanocomposites and their property characterization and processing. Other research activities have also included biocarbon and electrospinning of biopolymers. She has more than 300 scientific publications and conference proceedings in the field of nanostructured biomaterials and biocomposites and is highly cited. Her H index is 67 and i10 index is 166 with a total citation of 20700. Her main expertise is the fundamental understanding of nanomaterials and composites, their processing development and the relationship between the manufacturing process, the structure and properties.

Dr. George obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Kalasalingam University, Tamil Nadu, India in 2014, specializing in the area of commingled natural fiber composites. He published several articles in high-impact journals (Composite Part A, Composite Part B, Carbon, Scientific Reports etc.) and wrote chapters for several books. He has two and a half years of experience as a junior scientist at the Corporate R&D Centre, HLL Lifecare Limited, a Government of India Enterprise, in the area of graphene/natural rubber latex nanocomposites for contraceptive applications. Dr. George also completed two years of post-doctoral research in the area of EMI shielding materials during his tenure as UGC-DSKPDF at School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. He was also a post-doctoral researcher at Division of Materials Science, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden for 1 year and 8 months and worked in the area of high quality carbon nanomaterials from biomass. He has also co-edited a book titled “Materials for Potential EMI Shielding Applications: Processing, Properties and Current Trends” published by Elsevier. His present research interests include natural fiber-based composites, carbon nanocomposites for EMI shielding applications, graphene-based composites, and biomass/biochar to advanced carbon nanomaterials.

Dr. Wilson is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, St. Cyril’s College, Kerala, India. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India. He has written several publications in international journals and conference proceedings. He has also co-edited two books one titled “Transport Properties of Polymeric Membranes” and the other titled “Materials for Potential EMI Shielding Applications: Processing, Properties and Current Trends” published by Elsevier. He has also conducted research work at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Dr. Runcy has also almost two years of industrial experience as a junior scientist at the Corporate R&D Centre, HLL Lifecare Limited, a Government of India Enterprise, in the area of synthesis of green polymers. His current research interests include polymer nanocomposites for membrane applications, synthesis of biodegradable polymers for medical applications, and development of high quality EMI shielding material.

Dr. Saritha Appukuttan was awarded her PhD from Mahatma Gandhi University in 2012 working in the field of polymer nanocomposites. She has also been worked for two years on the development of gas barrier membranes on an ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) project. She has published around 25 book chapters with highly reputed publishers and several research papers in high impact international journals such as Composites Part A, Composites Part B, and Materials Chemistry and Physics and has edited two books on “Fibre Reinforced Composites: Constituents, compatibility, perspectives and applications” (Elsevier) and on “Luminescent Metal Nanoclusters” (Elsevier). Currently, she is editing two more books on “Lignin and its Composites: A sustainable tool for health care and medical applications” and “Zero-Dimensional Carbon Nanostructures” to be published by RSC and Elsevier, respectively.