Evolving Genetic Programming Tree Models for Predicting the Mechanical Properties of Green Fibers

Advanced modern technology and the industrial sustainability theme have contributed to the implementation of composite materials for various industrial applications. Bio-composites are among the desired alternatives for green products. However, to properly control the performance of bio-composites, predicting their constituent properties is of paramount importance. This work introduces an innovative, evolving genetic programming tree model for predicting the mechanical properties of natural fibers for the first time based upon several inherent chemical and physical properties. Cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and moisture contents, as well as the Microfibrillar angle of various natural fibers, were considered to establish the prediction models. A one-hold-out methodology was applied for the training/testing phases. Robust models were developed utilizing evolving genetic programming tree models to predict the tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and the elongation at break properties of the natural fibers. It was revealed that the Microfibrillar angle was dominant and capable of determining the ultimate tensile strength of the natural fibers by 44.7%, comparable to other considered properties, while the impact of cellulose content in the model was only 35.6%. This would facilitate utilizing artificial intelligence to predict the overall mechanical properties of natural fibers without exhausting experimental efforts and cost to enhance the development of better green composite materials for various industrial applications. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-06-02 Full Text: PD

Materials selection for natural fibre composites

Materials Selection for Natural Fiber Composites covers the use of various tools and techniques that can be applied for natural fiber composite selection to expand the sustainable design possibilities and support cleaner production requirements. These techniques include the analytical hierarchy process, knowledge-based system, Java based materials selection system, artificial neural network, Pugh selection method, and the digital logic technique. Information on related topics, such as materials selection and design, natural fiber composites, and materials selection for composites are discussed to provide background information to the main topic. Current developments in selecting the natural fiber composite material system, including the natural fiber composites and their constituents (fibers and polymers) is the main core of the book, with in detailed sections on various technical, environmental and economic issues to enhance both environmental indices and the industrial sustainability theme. Recent developments on the analytical hierarchy process in natural fiber composite materials selection, materials selection for natural fiber composites, and knowledge based system for natural fiber composite materials selection are also discussed

Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites in industrial applications: feasibility of date palm fibers for sustainable automotive industry

Proper utilization of the available natural resources and wastes became crucial for developing sustainability in industry. In this work, the feasibility of using the date palm fibers in the natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFC) for automotive industry was reported. Moreover, this work identifies a gap in the way of evaluating NFC relative to comprehensive desired criteria. This gap leads to disregard potential natural fiber types in industrial applications and keep it no more than an environmental waste problem. Here, criteria that affect the NFC were categorized and classified into levels. Governing criteria were suggested, collected and tabulated according to each level. To ensure the potential and competitiveness of the date palm fiber (DPF) in developing sustainability of the automotive industry, several comparisons between DPF and other fiber types commonly used in this industry were carried out. In most comparisons, DPF was the best selected fiber among all other types. DPF was the best regarding specific Young's modulus to cost ratio criterion. Technical properties and performance, environmental, economical, and societal aspects strongly contribute toward adopting DPF into the automotive sector to improve its sustainability and productivity. Furthermore, this adoption has a significant environmental influence throughout achieving an efficient sustainable waste management practice

A novel evaluation tool for enhancing the selection of natural fibres for polymeric composites based on fiber moisture content criterion

A systematic evaluation tool for natural fibers’ capabilities based on moisture content criterion (MCC) was developed and introduced as a new evaluation method. This MCC evaluation tool is designed to predict the behavior of the available natural fibers regarding distinctive desirable characteristics under the effect of the moisture absorption phenomenon. Here, the capabilities of different natural fiber types commonly used in industry, in addition to date palm fibers, were systematically investigated based on MCC. The results demonstrated that MCC is capable of predicting the relative reduction of fiber performance regarding a particular beneficial property because of the effect of moisture absorption. The strong agreements between the predicted values of MCC and results reported in the literature verify its usefulness as an evaluation tool and demonstrate its added value steps in predicting the relative behavior of fibers with a minimal range of errors compared with experimental measurements. Therefore, MCC is capable of better evaluating natural fibers regarding distinctive criteria in a systematic manner, leading to more realistic decisions about their capabilities and therefore enhancing the selection process for both better sustainable design possibilities and industrial product development

Modeling and Investigation of the Influential Reinforcement Parameters on the Strength of Polypropylene Lignocellulosic Fiber Composites Using Analysis of Variances and Box-Cox Transformation Technique

Green materials have received great interest in wide industrial applications due to their desired properties. However, the reinforcing conditions have a significant impact on how they perform in their final use. The current study intends to statistically examine the effects of three key parameters on the average tensile strength of polypropylene composites. These factors included the type of fiber, the chemical treatment, and the fiber's weight percentage. The fibers were hemp and sisal, and the weight percentages were 10, 20, and 30. While some of them received sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment, the rest were left untreated. The main effect and the interaction effect were both examined using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings demonstrated that, on average, the weight percentage had no tangible effect on the tensile strength of polypropylene (PP) composites. Additionally, the performance of sisal and hemp composites was unaffected by treatment. The strength, however, is significantly influenced by the type of fiber. The investigation also showed that there was little difference between untreated hemp and untreated sisal in terms of tensile strength

Combined multi-criteria evaluation stage technique as an agro waste evaluation indicator for polymeric composites: date palm fibre as a case study

The final features of natural fiber composites (NFCs) depend on the integrated characteristics of their constituents. In the industry today, natural agro waste fibers are evaluated using a limited number of criteria. In this work, a combined multi-criteria evaluation stage technique (CMCEST) is introduced as a simple efficient systematic indicator to enhance evaluation of the available natural agro wastes for polymeric composites. In this proposed technique, criteria affecting the proper selection of natural agro waste fibers were combined and divided into sequence stages as follows: single-evaluation-criterion (SEC), combined-double-evaluation-criterion (CDEC), combined-triple-evaluation-criterion (CTEC), etc. These stages are based on combined physical, mechanical, and economic evaluation criteria and can be extended to several further stages to include other beneficial characteristics. The effectiveness of this technique was demonstrated by evaluating coir, date palm, jute, hemp, kenaf, and oil palm fibers simultaneously. This combined evaluation criteria can lead to more informative decisions regarding selection of the most suitable fiber type for polymeric composites. The CMCEST enhancements can reveal new potential fiber types through better evaluation schemes, help achieve clearer indications of the capabilities of available agro wastes to enhance composites, and determine proper ecological waste management practices. Utilizing the proposed technique, the date palm fiber type was found to be quite promising due to beneficial characteristics revealed in CTEC, which provides a reasonable, cheap, and eco-friendly alternative material suitable for different applications

Integrated mechanical-economic–environmental quality of performance for natural fibers for polymeric-based composite materials

In this work, a proposed evaluation tool for the performance of the available natural fibers based on integrated technical, economic, and environmental stand points is demonstrated. A novel Cost Per Waste-Volume Ratio (CPWVR) eco-friendly indicator for natural fibers is introduced here for the first time. Various natural fiber types were evaluated regarding the suggested integrated evaluation criteria simultaneously to capture the quality of fiber performance for producing biomaterials. Better evaluations of natural fibers regarding wide range of criteria will lead to better decisions regarding fibers’ qualities as well as their selections for industrial applications and enhance achieving better performance. Such evaluations should consider economic, physical, mechanical, and environmental characteristics as well as technical ones. New potential fiber types can be discovered and utilized in future cleaner production through keen evaluation criteria

A review of rice husk bio-based composites

Development of new bio- based composites from renewable resources is getting wide attention from researchers due to environmental issue caused by traditional composites. Rice husk is a new potential renewable source of fillers for bio-composites to produce green products. Rice husk is the outer sheath surrounding rice grains during their growth. The aim of this work is to systematically review the parameters that affect the rice husk -polymeric composites in order to enhance their usage in various sustainable designs and applications. It is dedicated that rice husk composites are not used effectively due to the lack of understanding over its potential for such green composites. Moreover, systematic review of the published works demonstrated that the lack of awareness to environmental problems and technology as well as socio-economy problems prevent proper utilization of rice in bio-composites for sustainable products. Moreover, systematic discussions of the parameters that affect the performance of rice husk - composites are illustrated in this work to enhance its implementations for future sustainable products

Mechanical and morphological properties of injection-molded rice husk polypropylene composites

In this work, the investigation of the physical, mechanical, and morphological properties of the rice husk flour/polypropylene composites was performed utilizing various filler loadings and coupling agent. Five levels of filler loading (35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 wt%) were designed. In addition, to help the interaction between fiber and polypropylene matrix, struktol coupling agent was added to the composites. All of tensile strength, Young's modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength properties of the composites were carried out. Moreover, the 50 wt% filler-loaded composites had optimum tensile strength, flexural strength, and flexural modulus, whereas the 35 wt% of filler loading case was the best regarding Young's modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength. Furthermore, the scanning electron microscope results demonstrate that as filler loading increases, more voids and fiber pullout occur