Meet the editor

Dr. Mudassar Abbas is currently an associate professor in the School of Textile and Design at the University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. He was also invited as a "guest professor" at Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, during summer 2017 after winning a scholarship under the Ernst March (EZA) fellowship program. His current area of research includes the findings of greener routes for the synthesis of applied

materials containing nanoparticles and/or polymers. Dr. Abbas is also running an HEC-funded project (under NRPU, project No. 3422) for the development of silver nanoparticle-based functional materials for advanced biocidic applications.

Dr. Han-Yong Jeon is a professor at Inha University, Incheon, Korea (South), and a geosynthetics/technical organic materials researcher. He was the 32nd President of the Korean Fiber Society (2014–2015) and the 6th President of the Korean Geosynthetics Society (2011–2013). He was also a Council Member of the International Geosynthetics Society (2008–2012). His research is focused on the manufacturing, application, and evaluation of

technical organic materials/manufacturing, evaluation, standardization, and regulation of geosynthetics/environmental and structural polymeric composites, etc. He has written 24 texts, including Review of Long-Term Durable Creep Performance of Geosynthetics by Constitutive Equations of Reduction Factors (IntechOpen), ISBN 978-953-51-3724-5, IntechOpen (2018), and has also published 158 papers in domestic and international journals. He has published more than 943 proceedings and abstracts in domestic and international conferences. He was awarded the Marquis Who'sWho-Science and Engineering award in 2003–2019, the 33rd Academy Award of the Korean Fiber Society in 2006, the "Excellent Paper Award of 2012" by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, and "The Best Publication Award 2017" titled "Geosynthetics for Civil Engineers" from the Korea Association of Technical Textile Industry.

Contents

**Section 1**

Natural Fibers: Applications *by Jatinder Singh Dhaliwal*

Environment Friendly Methods

for Bioeconomy Applications

for Automotive Application *by Seung Jin Kim and Hyun Ah Kim*

*by Tayyaba Fatma*

*by Petronela Nechita*

**Section 2**

**Preface III**

Generation, Development and Modification in Natural Fibres **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 25**

**Chapter 3 49**

**Chapter 4 63**

Non-Woven Fabrics Technology **83**

**Chapter 5 85**

**Chapter 6 111**

Development, Characterization and Properties of Silk Fibre and Grafted Silk Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composite Films *by Sareen Sheik and Gundibasappa Karikannar Nagaraja*

Surface Modification of Bast-Based Natural Fibers through

Use of Recycled Cellulose Fibers to Obtain Sustainable Products

Characteristics of Eco-friendly Kenaf Fiber-Imbedded Nonwoven

*by Mahesh Kumar Joshi, Rajeshwar Man Shrestha and Hem Raj Pant*

3D Nonwoven Fabrics for Biomedical Applications

## Contents


Preface

Natural fibers embrace a long history of serving mankind in a wide range of everyday life applications, and they compete and coexist in the twenty-first century with manmade fibers, especially as far as quality, sustainability, and economy of production are concerned. The present world has witnessed the importance of research, development, and innovation in the practical utilization of natural fibers. These fibers have been used for hundreds of years to meet human needs such as clothing and shelter. These practices were considerably reduced with the emergence of synthetic fibers toward the end of the 1900s. However, with the passage of time the alarming increase in environmental concerns and exhaustion of energy resources have revitalized the significance of natural fibers. Instead of the widespread usage of conventional synthetic fibers, researchers and the industry are now even more stimulated to utilize and generate the development and modification of sustainable fibers. The major advantages of using natural fibers in different applications is that they comprise several mechanical and physical properties such as good specific modulus values, low density, considerable toughness, low cost, recyclability,

non-toxicity, and easy accessibility, and these attractive aspects give an opportunity to use natural fiber-reinforced composite products in various industries such as automotive, building, furniture, and so on. The book presents the latest research data on new and emerging areas in the generation, processing, development, and

By definition, natural fibers are fibrous polymeric composite materials obtained from natural renewable sources, namely plants and animals. The ever-growing environmental, ecological, and economical concerns lead to increased acceptance of natural fibers as substitutes in almost every area of conventional synthetic material application. Applying natural fibers in various applications yields the benefits of biodegradability, non-toxicity, combustibility, easy availability, non-abrasiveness, light self-weight, low cost, good specific strength, and great corrosion, as well as fatigue resistance. Despite these advantages, there are huge drawbacks associated with the use of natural fibers, including great water sensitivity, poor melting temperature, and inferior adhesion to other materials. To combat these downsides, the surface modification of natural fibers has received vast research interest in recent

The first chapter deals with different phases of development, characterization, and properties of silk fiber and grafted silk fiber-reinforced polymer composite films. The innumerable properties of silk fiber have proven its worth to be used by researchers both in the plastic and biomedical sectors. The extensive use of silk fibroin in the biomedical field, due to its robust properties, has made it a promising material suitable in tissue-engineering applications. Keeping this in view, the current chapter also focuses on retailoring the properties of silk fibers by grafting a natural polysaccharide. The results are useful in determining the practicality of silk

The second chapter gives information on the structure and properties of common plants, which are used as natural fiber sources. Due to research and developmental

modification of natural fibers and their applications.

developments.

fabric in the biomedical field.
