Natural bast fibre sturcture

Abstract

This paper reviews the physical structure of plant bast fibres and its effect on the properties of composites containing bast fibre reinforcement. Natural fibres are competitive with glass fibres in many applications but variability in mechanical properties and low toughness can potentially limit their use in high strength composites. These two issues effects are the result of natural and introduced fibre defects and differences between the properties of fibre bundles and single fibre cells.