Coconut fibres from coconut stalk
The UN Sustainable Development Goal number 12 on responsible consumption and production aspires for sustainable consumption and production pattern. One important implication is that goods are only sustainable if they are as dematerialized as possible and allow for continued use or re-use, or recycling with minimal material loss. To this end, a multidisciplinary international team has successfully developed a fiber reinforced polymer composite material using natural fibers derived from the flower stalk of coconut trees, which is an agricultural waste product. The composite material is not only light-weight but also adequately strong and stiff for structural application in automotive industry, such as the chassis of electric vehicles. The unique approach in the processing of the composite material was to blend the fibers in an unsaturated polyester resin, which had been modified by a catalyst and an accelerator. This new composite material has potential applications in a wide range of industry from automotive engineering, construction, sports to biomedical engineering.
The work has been published in Journal of Applied Polymer (DOI: 10.1002/app.52245). For further details and enquiry on potential collaboration, please contact Dr K L Goh at [email protected].
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