Industrial Applications of Natural Fibres: Structure, Properties and Technical Applications Edited by Jürg Müssig

Contents

Preface
What makes natural fibres so fascinating? Representatives of different professional disciplines, like biologists, chemists, agrononomical scientists, process engineers or preservation scientists, would certainly each answer this question quite differently, according to their own scientific interest and research. As a material scientist, I would like to describe my own perception and at the same time outline the leading thoughts of this book. Material discoveries and material developments have in the history of mankind led to great progress in innovation, with far-reaching consequences for technology, economy and culture. The periodical division of prehistory and early history of mankind is mainly determined by the materials used in these periods (Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age). Although the utilisation of natural fibres is verifiable in early archaeological cultures, it has not resulted in the naming of an epoch. There is no ‘natural fibre age’, although in history the usage of natural fibre has been quite varied and has repeatedly generated culturally significant innovations. Clothing textiles as well as technical textiles (e.g. nets) or composite materials (e.g. natural fibre compounded clay) are examples of such innovations. In this book these historical aspects of natural fibre usage are combined with possible future products.

In our progressively globalised world with unforeseeable demographic, economic and ecological challenges, management of resources and sustainability are increasingly becoming the focus of debate and discussion. The utilisation of materials is a key factor, and natural fibres in particular, being a natural resource, provide opportunities for technical innovation and sustainability.

The use of natural fibres, e.g. in technical applications, needs to be in line with the three essential pillars of sustainability – economy, ecology and society. To ensure that this remains so now and in the future, the worldwide raw material turnaround and its effects on the selection of materials must be critically examined on the basis of sustainability criteria.

The main argument against the industrial use of natural fibres is often that the quality of the fibres depends on the year in which they were grown. It is nevertheless possible to obtain fibres of consistent quality, as well as reliable data, enhancing the predictability of the properties of natural fibre products by using a quality management system that starts for plant fibres at the cultivation stage and that is based on reproducible proof of origin and harvesting parameters. This book will combine the different steps of processing, from agriculture, fibre separation and fibre processing to the manufacture of the final product. Each step will be linked to the fibre properties, the possibilities to characterise them, and how the different natural fibres will influence the product properties.

In order to understand why and how a natural fibre influences a product property, their chemical as well as structural qualities are thoroughly described. The fundamental understanding of the hierarchy and construction of natural fibre structures allow for a specific and selective design of natural fibre products. However, natural fibres and their function in biological systems also offer an exceedingly interesting model for the development of biomimetic and bio-inspired materials. Here, also, a fundamental understanding of the functions enhances the transfer from biological system to technological appliance.

The subject of natural fibres is an interdisciplinary field of research and, among others, touches the fields of cultivation, biochemistry, agricultural science, biology, material science and engineering. The aim and objective of writing this book was to provide a substantiated overview of the status of current research on the subject of natural fibres and technical natural fibre usage, including the perspectives of other disciplines. I would like to thank the authors, who have shown great interest in this interdisciplinary book project. As a combination of different areas of research may cause problems of understanding, there has been great emphasis on using consistent terminology. This will enhance understanding across the borders of scientific fields. In this context, I would again like to thank the authors, who worked very cooperatively in this project. A special focus was to present the graphic elements in this book consistently and appealingly. Using mainly handwritten graphics and diagrams, we have attempted a new way of illustration in this book. My special thanks to Tanja Slootmaker and Anja M¨ussig for their creative work.

I would like to thank the staff at John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, especially Richard Davies, Sarah Hall and Jenny Cossham, for supporting the book project through to the end.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for their patience and the time they have given me for the conception and writing of this book.

I hope while reading this book you will experience some of the fascination of ‘natural fibres’ that I have been experiencing for years now, being engaged in this highly interesting area of research.