Affiliation:
1. Department of Forest Biomaterials, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8005, USA
Abstract
Composites, which have become very common in mass-produced items, have the potential to outperform similar materials made from any one of their individual components. This tutorial review article considers published studies that shine a light on what is required for such structures to earn the name “sustainable”. The focus is on a series of questions that deal with such issues as the carbon footprint, other life-cycle impacts, durability, recyclability without major loss of value, reusability of major parts, and the practical likelihood of various end-of-life options. To achieve the needed broader impacts of limited research dollars, it is important that researchers choose their research topics carefully. Among a great many possible options for preparing truly eco-friendly composite materials, it will be important to focus attention on the much smaller subset of technologies that have a high probability of commercial success and large-scale implementation.
Subject
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Geography, Planning and Development,Building and Construction
Reference90 articles.
1. Cellulosic nanocomposites, A review;Hubbe;BioResources,2008
2. Green composites from sustainable cellulose nanofibrils: A review;Khalil;Carbohyd. Polym.,2012
3. Progress and challenges in sustainability, compatibility, and production of eco-composites: A state-of-art review;Nassar;J. Appl. Polym. Sci.,2021
4. Sustainable biobased composites for advanced applications: Recent trends and future opportunities—A critical review;Andrew;Compos. Part C Open Access,2022
5. Asyraf, M.R.M., Syamsir, A., Zahari, N.M., Supian, A.M., Ishak, M.R., Sapuan, S.M., Sharma, S., Rashedi, A., Razman, M.R., and Zakaria, S.Z.S. (2022). Product development of natural fibre-composites for various applications: Design for sustainability. Polymers, 14.