Surface Treatments of Natural Fibres in Fibre Reinforced Composites: A Review

The use of natural fibres in fibre-reinforced composites comes with drawbacks. They are highly hydrophilic, leading to high moisture absorption and poor interfacial adhesion in matrix-reinforcement bonds. This affects the fibres’ thermal stability as well as mechanical properties, hence limiting their wider application. This paper reviewed different ways in which natural fibres have been treated to improve hydrophobicity, reinforcement-matrix interfacial adhesion and thermal stability. It will investigate. among others, treatments like alkali, acetylation, bleaching, silane, benzoylation and plasma, which have been found to improve fibre hydrophobicity. The literature reviewed showed that these methods work to improve mechanical, chemical, and morphological properties of natural fibres by removing the amorphous surface, thus allowing for more efficient load transfer on the fibre-matrix surface. Studies in the literature found alkali treatment to be the most common surface modification treatment due to its simplicity and effectiveness. However, plasma treatment has emerged due to its lower processing time and chemical consumption. A comparative analysis of other improved properties was also investigated.