**1. Introduction**

One biocomposite is a material formed by a polymer matrix and a filler or reinforcement, with the characteristic that both the matrix and the filler or reinforcement, one should at least be of biological origin. Now, it is known that the concept of sustainability has managed to motivate industries to seek alternative and sustainable materials using natural fibers that can reinforce or fill materials for different applications. Similarly, efforts are made to the development of

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

compound parts that could become an option to supply the irregular use of wood, and 100% the use of synthetic polymers and origin of oil. Biocomposites are already accepted, viable, and sustainable alternative, are characterized by one of its phases, and are of biological origin may be fibers or natural fillers or polymer that can obtained from renewable resources such as sugar cane, corn, and among others. Various natural fibers have been used for strengthening plastic matrices due to their low cost compared to synthetic fibers. In this context, we have already conducted several investigations that have developed new composite materials using natural fibers from different sources [1–7], the composites of thermoplastic matrix reinforced with natural fibers or fillers, they can mainly improve the mechanical performance of the original polymers, besides obtaining benefit in lowering the density; so it may be possible to obtain lighter, economical, and resistant products, as it is already known applications to the automobile industry where natural fibers are replacing the synthetic fibers in different parts of automobiles due to their light weight and low cost [8–13]. Cellulosic fibers such as sisal, fique, coir, jute, palm, bamboo, wood, and among others, in their natural condition, and several of cellulosic wastes such as shells, wood flour, and pulp are used as reinforcing agents or filled thermoplastic and thermosetting resins in different years.

In Colombia, researcher are working on the development of different biocomposites with natural resources that have already been prepared and cultivated for different uses, one of these resources is the fique. This natural fiber grows on the leaves of the plants and furcraea in Andes; it is native monocotiledón xerofítico of the Andean regions of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. These plants are grown from Venezuela to the east coast of Brazil. The common names of these plants are fique, cabuya, pita, penca, penco, maguey, cabui, chuchao, or cokes. Mainly in Colombia the fique has been used as an alternative to develop compounds with ceramic and polymeric matrices. Investigations have been carried out with the aim of finding alternatives to the use of short fiber waste fique [14]. They have evaluated the flexural properties and voltage matrix composite with high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and fique fiber reinforced percentages are found between 7and 55% (v/v). Similarly, we have investigated the effect of composition on the mechanical properties by incorporating 20% of calcium carbonate, in order to stiffen the material for use in construction, especially for the manufacture of plates or rectangular profiles for manufacturing pallets. Because of the interest to include sisal in other manufacturing processes, we have studied the influence of different surface fibers of sisal treatments, in the case of alkalinization, chemical modification with maleic anhydride, acrylic acid, and silane was carried out in order to improve the mechanical behavior of a compound of unsaturated polyester resin matrix. It was possible to analyze the mechanical behavior of the composite material through bending tests, where it was observed that the best properties are presented in both compounds with fibers subjected to alkalization, as those in which the alkali treatment was a preprocessing of other modification surface [15]. We also studied the behavior of the hydrolysis of compounds of epoxy matrix, in which two types of surface treatments were analyzed in which fique fibers used as reinforcement (alkalinization and silanization). The authors tested specimens by immersing in tap and distilled water for obtaining decreased flexural mechanical performance, and also reduction in weight due to the presence of water in the material [16, 17].

Now, it is possible to develop new alternatives for fique, especially to develop new composite materials, particularly fique arranged as blanket, which uses short fibers in two-dimensional random arrangement. This material is susceptible to be used in manufacturing of various products and various thermoplastic matrices, especially for structural applications or products such as pallets or similar products, which are typically subjected to withstand loads varying time intervals and temperature changes. This chapter presents, as an example, a study of the mechanical and viscoelastic performance biocomposite low-density polyethylene, filled with aluminum and reinforced with natural fibers sisal which is called LDPE-Al-Fique. It was possible to obtain a formulation of biocomposite, especially based on analysis of micromechanical interactions between the continuous phase and the dispersed phase, including study parameters such as surface treatments and the arrangement of the fibers in the composite. Also, a study of the effect of fibers on sisal treatments alkalization, silanization, and impregnation regarding the effect on the strain rate, and viscoelastic properties, such as the module TOR-AGE, loss modulus, and tangent delta was performed. The behavior of the compliance function of time, compared to other biocomposites reinforced or filled bagasse and wood, was analyzed [6, 7].
