Review of Banana Fiber Composite and its Applications

Today engineering industries are finding alternate ways to produce their products using eco-friendly materials. Natural fiber is used as an alternative resource to synthetic fibres. They can be as well reinforced for making polymer composite materials and their manufacturing is inexpensive, renewable and environment friendly. Natural fibers have low cost, low density and low durability as compare to synthetic fibers but with the help of fiber treatments, mechanical properties of natural fibers are improved. Natural fibers have distinct properties than synthetic fibers like high strength, low weight, low cost processing and bio degradability. The interest in natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials is rapidly growing both in terms of their industrial applications and fundamental research. They are renewable, cheap, completely or partially recyclable, and biodegradable. Plants, such as flax, cotton, hemp, jute, sisal, kenaf, pineapple, ramie, bamboo, banana, etc., as well as wood, used from time immemorial as a source of lignocellulosic fibers, are more and more often applied as the reinforcement of composites. Their availability, renewability, low density, price and their satisfactory mechanical properties offers an attractive ecological alternative to glass, carbon and man-made fibers used for the manufacturing of composites. The natural fiber-containing composites are more environmentally friendly, and are used in transportation (automobiles, railway coaches, aerospace), military applications, building and construction industries (ceiling paneling, partition boards), packaging, consumer products etc. Banana farming generates more quantity of biomass which goes as waste. The parts of banana tree above ground such as pseudo-stem and peduncle are the major source of fibre. Banana fibers used as a raw material in industry for production of papers, tea bags, currency and reinforced as a polymer composite. The present paper discussed the properties of banana fiber and its application in various industries.