Abstract
A detailed review about different types of natural plant fibers: the family to which each fiber belongs, the historical background, their availability, weather conditions, the producer countries, and the usage are provided in this chapter. Good knowledge about the plants leads to characterize and obtain extracted fibers of high quality. Non-wood or vegetable fibers are obtained from a range of sources, including four main categories: bast, leaf, seed and stalk. The plant fibers have a lot of utilization such as in textile, handicraft industry, marine applications, reinforcement of composite, packaging material (bags), carpet backing, cordage, ropes, wall decoration, automotive components, fabrics, clothes, etc.
TopIntroduction
Natural fibers exhibit different mechanical properties depending on different parameters such as; their location in the plant where the fiber is extracted, the weather conditions and the maturity level of the plant when it is harvested. The information related to different plant fibers shown in Figure 1 and their corresponding fibers, are presented in this chapter. The mostly used fibers in the market could be divided into two main categories: synthetic and natural. Synthetic fibers consist of fibers commonly used in advanced industries such as glass, carbon and aramid fibers. However, natural fibers consist of animal and plant fibers. Plant fibers are also being categorized into wood and non-wood which is our main concern in this chapter. These fibers could be also divided into four main categories: Leaf, Bast, Seed and Stalk.
Figure 1. Categories of some natural fibers
TopNatural Fibers And Their Origin
The non-wood natural fibers are divided into four categories. The first category is the Bast fibers.