A review on Luffa fibres and their polymer composites
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A review on Luffa fibres and their polymer composites Comfort Abidemi Adeyanju1 , Samuel Ogunniyi1 , Joshua O. Ighalo1,2,* Adewale George Adeniyi1,* , and Sulyman A. Abdulkareem1 1 2
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Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ilorin, P. M. B. 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria Department of Chemical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, P. M. B. 5025, Awka, Nigeria
Received: 16 June 2020
ABSTRACT
Accepted: 8 October 2020
Luffa spp. is readily available and widely grown in Asia and Africa and is a rich source of natural fibres for composite development. This paper reviews research findings on Luffa fibres and their composites. The progress of research, novel findings that affect the paradigm of the research area, recent trends, knowledge gaps and future perspectives are evaluated. It was found that the average chemical composition of Luffa fibres ranges from 57–74% cellulose, 14–30% of hemicellulose, 1–22% of lignin and 0–12.8% of the other components. Luffa fibres were usually extracted by drying. Furthermore, the most common modification technique was found to be by alkali mercerisation. About 53% of the research studies made use of epoxy resins for their base polymer making it the most popular polymer type for Luffa fibre reinforced composites. The composites are fabricated usually by manual mixing and hand layup and the most common curing technique was found to be compression moulding (about 63% of the research studies). The mechanical, thermal, crystalline and other properties of the composites are also considered in this review. Further interesting areas suggested for future work include investigation of the effect of drying, more trials with L. acutangula and utilisation of multi-resin ternary systems. It is concluded that Luffa is a promising material for composite development and based on its favourable properties is likely to continue playing an important role for the years to come.
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Springer Science+Business
Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Introduction In the era of modern engineering materials, degradability is an important property to be considered in the selecting materials to use [1]. Recently,
researchers have focused on tackling global warming with biodegradable composites [2]. Natural fibre composites are advantageous due to some of their physical, chemical and mechanical properties and unique lightweight [3, 4]. Luffa spp. fibres are ones of
Handling Editor: Chris Cornelius.
Address correspondence to E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05432-6
J Mater Sci
the most popular natural fibres in composites development. Based on the scientific classification, Luffa belongs to the Order—Cucurbitales and Family—Cucurbitaceae [5, 6]. It is a sub-tropical herbal plant that requires warm temperature [7]. Seeds from the pod are usually black in colour and have an oblong shape with a bitter taste [5]. The flower is usually yellowish in colour and primes in August–September [8]. The fruit is brownish in colour when mature and drie
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