Materijali obnovljivog porijekla u izradi kompozita
The reduction of petroleum resources and awareness of global issues have led to extraordinary achievements in the field of materials science. The development of composites from renewable resources is increasing worldwide. Thanks to a large number of good properties and characteristics, composites from renewable resources appear as a „green“ alternative to glass fiber reinforced composites. There are several types of environmentally friendly composites, and the most significant are those containing natural fibers as reinforcement and biopolymers as matrix. High cost of biodegradable polymer matrix represents a major limitation when it comes to its wide usage, and because of that natural fibers (in combination with thermoplastics and thermosets) are imposed as an acceptable choice when developing composites from renewable resources. This paper summarizes the properties of natural fibers, biopolymer matrices, and composites from renewable resources, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages in their application.