Carbon Fiber Reinforced BioPlastics: Present Status and Future Directions

Carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are widely employed in the fields of aerospace and automotive due to their high specific strength and modulus as well as the ability to be tailored for specific applications. On the other hand, the current observable trend in the market is an increase in development and utilization of ‘green’ plastics and composites produced from sustainable, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly materials. Renewable resource based precursors for carbon fibre feedstocks are currently being researched to replace pitch and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fibres. Production of CFRPs by incorporating traditional carbon fibre with bioplastics and bio-based plastics to substitute and supplement petroleum based plastics has also been observed for several applications. Such study can also be extrapolated to produce fully green composites using bioplastics and renewable resource based carbon fibres derived from lignin as its reinforcement. The overall cost of utilizing CFRPs and dependency on petroleum based resources can be reduced by applying such production technologies. This research is financially supported by the the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Network for Innovative Plastic Materials and Manufacturing Processes (NIPMMP) and  the NSERC Biomaterials and Chemicals Strategic Network projects.