The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series

Lopera, Henry A. Colorado; Lopes, Felipe Perisse Duarte; Monteiro, Sergio Neves; Salazar, Daniel; Meyers, Marc A.

Natural fibers’ abundance, excellent properties, biodegradability, and low cost make this renewable resource a green alternative to synthetic fibers for composite material reinforcement. The need to create sustainable solutions has promoted applications in sports, transportation, armor, medicine, infrastructure, construction and building materials, and architecture. This collection promotes the use of natural materials and their composites as a possible strategy to increase environmental sustainability, as well as to study materials fundamentals for new applications. Topics include but are not limited to:

Natural fibers, its properties, and fundamentals
Surface modifications of natural fiber to improve properties
Biocomposite materials and potential contributions to sustainability
Durability; dynamic behavior; adhesion; impact response; and mechanical, thermal, and other properties related to natural materials and their composites