Enhancement of impact toughness and damage behaviour of natural fibre reinforced composites and their hybrids through novel improvement techniques: a critical review

The importance of natural fibres over synthetic fibres have gained significant attention in the research area, due to their higher specific strength, stiffness, lightweight and inexpensive. Natural fibre composites used in various applications are often susceptible to moisture absorption and various critical loadings scenarios during their service life such as low-velocity impact damages which is a concern for structural and non-structural applications. For enhancing the toughness of natural fibres hybridisation with synthetic fibres is essential. This paper examines the essential information critically from the published literature influencing the morphological characteristics, fracture toughness, damage tolerance and impact resistance of natural fibre reinforced and their hybrid composites. Following this, this review paper critically analyses the novel improvement techniques suitable for natural fibre composites for damage tolerance and impact resistance behaviours.