Moisture and Flammability Behaviour
of flax Fibre and Natural Fillers-Based
Hybrid Epoxy Composites
Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary , Hitesh Sharma , and Gaurav Kumar
1 Introduction
Two or more different materials with different physical and chemical properties
are combined to form a new material which possesses properties entirely different
from main constituents are acknowledged as composite materials. There has been
striking growth of composites as they provide the materials with stiffness and tough-
ness. The biggest advantage associated with composites is that their properties can
be customized and manipulated. Natural fibre-based composite has been used in
the fabrication of aircraft parts, submarine structure, production of sports good and
medical instruments [1, 2]. Natural fibre-based composites found its uses in many
applications. However, they are still vulnerable to fire and moisture and limited
studies have been reported. As they found their application in aircraft parts, construc-
tion works, hence, the risk of catching fire can be dangerous [3]. However, natural
fillers-based composites have found their various applications against the synthetic
fillers-based composites as they are abundant in nature and relatively low cost associ-
ated with them. Several properties of the natural fibre-based composite are superior to
those of glass fibre-based composite [4]. Initially, these composites are used in indoor
application as they are very vulnerable to moisture and fire, but as more research has
been done on these natural fibres-based composites, they have also found their use in
outdoor applications. Different types of parts are manufactured using natural fibres
without compromising the mechanical strength of the material. Natural filler and
fibre-based composites are also seen as alternatives for synthetic materials as they
do less harm to nature and easily biodegradable as compared with those of synthetic
composite.
S. K. Chaudhary (B ) · H. Sharma · G. Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, Srinagar
Garhwal 246174, India
e-mail: sudhir.mechmt18@nituk.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
P. K. Rakesh et al. (eds.), Advances in Engineering Design, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4018-3_36
385