Sustainable reclamation of synthetic materials as automotive parts replacement: effects of environmental response on natural fiber vulnerabilities

Sustaining the resilience of the environment against climate change volatilities is fast becoming a herculean task considering the vulnerabilities of the ecosystem and disruption of the global value chain. Environmental crisis emanating from improper containment of synthetic materials is a major impediment facing the world today, and the situation could get worse if urgent measures are not devised to mitigate the quantity of waste synthetic materials that find its ways to the environment. These wastes are released in the form of toxins, posing danger to the environments, causing biodiversity loss and the degradation of already battered-climate. In this paper, the authors apprise existing containment measures of synthetic waste materials taking a preliminary and on-the-spot assessment of their impacts and effectiveness of their application leading to their operation. The prospect of waste glass fiber in automotive part replacement is given utmost interest in this paper, in which, a significant quantity of glass fiber could be used as part of automotive materials to reduce their overbearing environmental carnage. By this approach, the emerging automotive parts may have their strength and durability enhanced against impact and corrosion. Mindful of the non-biodegradable properties of glass fibers, the paper captures how effective these fibers could be used as automotive parts against the traditional materials. This paper also reflects on the response of the natural fiber in terms of their sustainability, as natural forest faces severe extinction occasioned by anthropogenic activities.

Carbon-based nano-filler in polymeric composites for supercapacitor electrode materials: a review

The concept of this paper was to explore the comparative advantage of polymer composite in the formation of a critical part of electrodes, separators, and electrolytes. These parts largely determine the overall performance of new evolving supercapacitors (SC) as against many other existing storage devices. Polymer materials are reputed for their low weight and life-cycle flexibility which makes supercapacitors unique in their functions. In this paper, application and classification of SCs were undertaken to take into consideration the peculiarities of polymer composite suitable for each class of SCs identified in this work. Part of the rationale of this review paper was to bridge the existing gap identified in many storage devices using salient properties inherent in light-weight materials. This paper also discussed the potential threats to SCs, which require further research works. It is expected that this paper would assist other researchers in evolving SCs devoid of low cell voltages, lower energy density, and reduction of production cost.

Mitigating environmental impact of waste glass materials: review of the existing reclamation options and future outlook

The environmental impact of waste glass (WG) is one of the major challenges crippling sustainable waste management and mitigation. Reclamation of recycled materials from waste glass remains a tedious task amidst complex technological approaches. The challenge as seen in the global containment measures increase the proportion of waste glass and minimize the existing capacity of landfill space. In many works, findings have shown how best to minimize the impact of waste glass as evidenced in their inclusion as building materials such as cement, mortars, concretes and blocks. The concept of this paper is to appraise previous studies carried out on the use of waste glass as key contributing factor in structural building. The scope of this paper will be broaden to include various successes recorded in the evolution of concrete mixtures containing different proportion of recycle glass. Part of the setbacks noted in the inclusion of these recycled materials as matrix, filler or fibre are also reported in this paper. Also discussed is the durability of glass materials in varying conglomerate involving cement in reinforcement of building and structures. Thermal insulating properties of recycled glass are also considered in this work where considerable energy is saved due to their low thermal conductivity. Based on the analysis of various studies and other factors considered in this paper, it is established that recycled glass materials can be accommodated in structural buildings, while continuous research is necessary to adapt waste glass to high pH value of Portland cement.

Adaption of green composite in automotive part replacements: discussions on material modification and future patronage

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept of green composite in automotive part replacement. Adaptation of lightweight materials in transport system has been an integral part of weight saving measures in car's component formation. The continuing rise in ambient temperature is a signal no scientist would ever ignore in the face of global warming and attendant water level surge. Reduction of body system of automobile vehicles has been ongoing for several years with huge patronage on synthetic materials. The sudden attention to green composite may not be unconnected with the environmental impact of vehicular materials after their life cycle. This has led to the improved properties of polymeric materials to replace ferrous and nonferrous metals in vehicle formation. In this paper, an in-depth study was undertaken on sustainable green materials limiting the scope on the plant fibre for automotive part replacement. Plant fibres are increasingly gaining momentum in view of their recyclability and environmental friendliness. It has been noted that nearly all automakers are exploring the recyclable or biodegradable materials for part replacement, making the green composite a material for the future. Part of the attracting properties of plant fibres is their relative high strength and stiffness with low cost and low CO₂ emission. This is also, in addition, to their biodegradability and renewability. Further discussion in this paper centred on the difficulty in the modification of plant fibre for sustainable compatibility in part formations. Key of the conclusions drawn from this work indicates a promising future for plant fibres with enormous challenges relating to their chemical treatment.

GLASS-FIBRE REINFORCED COMPOSITES: THE EFFECT OF FIBRE LOADING AND ORIENTATION ON TENSILE AND IMPACT STRENGTH

The primary objective of this research work is to analyse the effect of fibre loading and orientation on the tensile and impact strength of the polymeric composite materials. Fibre reinforced composite materials have been reported to have attracted many applications in view of its low weight and superior strength when compared with the metal matrix composite. While researches have established the weight reduction of fibre reinforced polymer material, few works have reported the impact of orientation on the manufacturing of polymer composite. In this study, series of experimental works were done to demonstrate the manufacturing of glass-fibre reinforced epoxy resin with special attention on the influence of oriented reinforced composite material. The composites were manufactured using hand-lay technique with three different fibre loadings (10, 20, and 30 wt. %) and at two different fibre orientations (30o and 60o). Key of the finding drawn from this research form the basis of discussion and, composite with 60o fibre orientation showed better tensile strength when compared with the neat resin and other oriented (G10E30) fibre reinforced composite. Similar observations were also noticed on the impact strength of these composites which signify the improved mechanical properties of oriented reinforced composite materials. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i3.17