Effect of Interfacial Bonding Characteristics on Electrical Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymeric Matrix Composite

Neoteric years have seen aaggregatedintrigue in the sphere of natural fibre composites (NFCs) as promising dossier for electrical appositenessdue to their exiguous cost, lightweight, and renewable nature. NFCs offer several ascendancy over immemorial materials, to the same degree asceramic oxides, metals, and synthetic polymers, including ameliorated sustainability, biodegradability, and curtail the environmental impact. NFCs can be engineered to exhibit multifarious electrical attributes, including electrical conductivity, dielectric properties, surface resistivity, volume resistivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Manifold natural fibers like cotton, flax, hemp, jute, wool, silk and sisal have been investigated for their electrical attributes. These fibers can be bestowed in amalgamation with multifarious matrix materials, to the same degree as thermoplastics, thermosets, and biopolymers, to produce NFCs with tailored electrical and mechanical properties. To obtain an optimum electro-mechanical hallmark attributes of the NFCs a tenacious interfacial bonding (IFB) betwixt the matrix and the fibers are required for tight bonding which allows for efficient transfer of charges betwixt the two phases. IFB personates a crucial role in promoting the bonding betwixt the fibers and matrix by limiting the gaps or bereft regions (voids) in the interfacial terminal region that can impede the transfer of electrical charges, resulting in lower electrical conductivity of the composite. To embroider the electrical attributes of NFCs, disparate approaches have been scrutinized, including the accession of conductive fillers or additives, to the same degree as carbon forms (graphene layers and nanotubes),metal nano (in disparate %) particles, and the embodiment of coupling operators to promote interfacial bonding betwixt the natural fibers and matrix. Vast research on the role (execution) of IFB in arbitrating the mechanical attributes of the NFCs are available, but significantly exiguous research was conducted on studying the repercussion of IFB on the electrical attributes of NFCs are reported. This offshoot chapter focuses on the repercussion of IFBs on electrical attributes of NFCs, factors affecting the electrical attributes of NFCs, tests to find out the electrical attributes of NFCs and the approaches to convalesce the IFB to facilitate optimum electrical attributes are presented.