Green Composites for Industrial Applications

A special issue of Journal of Composites Science (ISSN 2504-477X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 30793

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Composite materials have been around for a number of decades now, and a considerable body of knowledge has been created and exploited around its massive advantages. However, the industrial application of composites at large has been mostly limited to cutting-edge sectors like aviation and top end sports goods. The use of composites in other industries has been picking up slowly for multiple reasons of which some can be pointed out briefly:

  • Natural inertia in modifying long-established design and manufacturing processes
  • Lack of understanding of industrialization and mass production of composites
  • Concerns about reliability and durability
  • Lack of understanding of composites’ maintenance and repair

In recent years, however, the body of knowledge has increased significantly and spread its attention considerably, to encompass topics that were not major concerns, most notably:

  • Environmental sustainability
  • Life-cycle engineering and life-cycle assessment
  • Incorporation of natural materials in the processing of composites
  • Weight reduction as a major driver of energy saving

This Special Issue aims to look at composites as a way of greening industrial applications, not only by incorporating natural materials but also by redefining the way in which they are designed, used, disposed of, or potentially reused. The analysis of these very broad and ill-defined problems can no longer focus on specific issues: it has to tackle a web of influences ranging from design to production, from supply chain to end-of-life, from consumer preference to market trends, from public awareness to public policy, etc.

Manuscripts submitted to this Special Issue should tackle the specific and the broad, the technical and the social, the environmental and the financial sustainability. Especially sought manuscripts will bridge these fields to produce a web of knowledge that may inform the scientific and the industrial community on ways to move forward and exploit the advantages of composite materials while mitigating their drawbacks.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arlindo Silva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Composites Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • design methods and techniques
  • product design and development
  • materials selection methodologies
  • technology evaluation and selection
  • renewable composites
  • cost modeling
  • management of uncertainty in design
  • life-cycle engineering
  • life-cycle assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

21 pages, 2509 KiB  
Article
Green Composites Reinforced with Plant-Based Fabrics: Cost and Eco-Impact Assessment
by Georgios Koronis and Arlindo Silva
J. Compos. Sci. 2018, 2(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs2010008 - 11 Feb 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5355
Abstract
This study considers a green composite under a twofold assessment; evaluating its process-based cost and environmental footprint profile. The initial objective was to project the manufacturing cost and allow for an additional material comparison of alternative scenarios in the resin transfer molding processes. [...] Read more.
This study considers a green composite under a twofold assessment; evaluating its process-based cost and environmental footprint profile. The initial objective was to project the manufacturing cost and allow for an additional material comparison of alternative scenarios in the resin transfer molding processes. The additional aim is to have an intermediate environmental assessment to assist in selecting materials and adjust manufacturing parameters which would minimize the energy spent and the CO2 emissions. As it has been noted in numerous applications, the incorporation of natural fiber fabrics, as opposed to glass fabrics, bring together weight savings and consequently cost savings. However, the economic analysis suggests that a glass reinforced composite is marginally cheaper at the production volume of 300 parts (1.9% lower cost) in contrast to a possible green solution (ramie). Considering jute instead of ramie as a reinforcement, the cost gets immediately lower, and further decreases with proposed improvements to the manufacturing process. Additional reduction of up to 10% in the production cost can be achieved by process upgrade. As indicated by the Eco-Audit analysis, 36% less energy and 44% CO2 per kilo will be generated, respectively when swapping from glass to ramie fabrics in the production of the automotive hood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Composites for Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

20 pages, 2421 KiB  
Review
Natural Fibre Composites and Their Applications: A Review
by Paulo Peças, Hugo Carvalho, Hafiz Salman and Marco Leite
J. Compos. Sci. 2018, 2(4), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs2040066 - 17 Nov 2018
Cited by 409 | Viewed by 24922
Abstract
There is significant work published in recent years about natural fibres polymeric composites. Most of the studies are about the characterization of natural fibres and their comparison with conventional composites regarding mechanical behaviour and application performance. There are dozens of types of natural [...] Read more.
There is significant work published in recent years about natural fibres polymeric composites. Most of the studies are about the characterization of natural fibres and their comparison with conventional composites regarding mechanical behaviour and application performance. There are dozens of types of natural fibres with different properties influencing their use, or not, in specific industrial applications. The natural origin of these materials causes, in general, a wide range of variations in properties depending mainly on the harvesting location and conditions, making it difficult to select the appropriate fibre for a specific application. In this paper, a comprehensive review about the properties of natural fibres used as composite materials reinforcement is presented, aiming to map where each type of fibre is positioned in several properties. Recent published work on emergent types of fibres is also reviewed. A bibliometric study regarding applications of natural fibres composites is presented. A prospective analysis about the future trends of natural fibres applications and the required developments to broaden their applications is also presented and discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Composites for Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop