## 8 Applications of Natural Fibers Reinforced Epoxy-Based Composites
### Construction Applications  
NFRCs have been widely used for construction purposes since ancient times. Generally, husk, sawdust, or short fibers of straw mixed with clay are used to produce composites used as bricks in house construction. There are many advantages of such composites in the construction, such as low maintenance, lightweight, enough strength, rot resistance, and bio-degradability. Short sisal and jute fibers are reinforced inside a polyester matrix material  
Figure 5: Automobile components made from NFRCs [176]. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2015 SciELO Brasil. used for false ceilings in workplaces and homes to make laminates [12]. Bamboo is another natural material that has been used for construction since ancient times, particularly in Asian countries [181]. The geotechnical characteristics of soil could be improved with the jute fibers, which help develop areas such as embankments, rural road constructions, river banking, and erosion control. Jute and epoxy-based NRFCs are being studied extensively in low-cost housing options, particularly in India and Bangladesh [182]. For manufacturing doorframes, jute is utilized as woven fabric reinforced inside phenolic resins [181]. Another widely used and ubiquitous building material is wood [160; 183; 184]. Coir fiber is mixed with cement to reduce the usage of steel rebar in beams, which helps withstand earthquakes. While using natural fiber such as coir or palm fiber in the composite reduces the density, they increase the composites' porosity. Such NFRCs could be used as natural fiber cement sheets. Bio-based insulating materials are made from hemp and straw-based composites, which have a lower environmental effect when disposed of. In constructing sunscreens, natural fibers can replace synthetic fibers. The compressed earth blocks could be developed using banana fiber, which is affordable and stronger than ordinary blocks [185]. Woven jute fabric epoxy composites were tested with the four environmental conditions: water, vegetable oil, 5% NaOH solution, and petrol [186]. The alkali environment significantly influences the water uptake and mechanical properties of NFRCs compared to water, vegetable oil, and petrol. However, vegetable oil and petrol enhance the flexural strength of the jute fiber epoxy composite. Therefore such treated fibers can be used to construct a component that requires high flexural strength, such as structural beams [186]. NRFCs could be used to construct the roof, structural panels, and house unit beams. Abundantly available jute fibers mixed with soybean oil-based resin were used to manufacture an I-Beam using vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) [187]. The resultant soybean oil and jute fiber composite was found to withstand the structural loads [187]. Further, NRFCs made from soybean oil-based resin and natural fibers such as recycled paper, flax, cellulose, pulp, and chicken feathers using VARTM technology were studied by [PERSON] et al. [188]. For building beams, NRFCs must have high flexural strength. Curing at room temperature of an acrylate epoxidized soybean oil resin provided a flexural modulus of 1 GPa, which increased to 2-6 GPa by 20-55 wt.% flax fiber and recycled paper reinforcement. Hybrid hemp and kenaf fiber bundles significantly increase tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity of NFRCs. However, reinforcement of these fibers to pure poly lactic acid markedly lowers the impact strength. Therefore, these composites could be used for components that require high strength (tensile strength and stiffness) and are subjected to low-impact stress. Examples are furniture, board in houses, offices, aeroplanes, and holders for grinding discs [172]. Sisal fiber in plain-woven mats was used to produce corrugated composites; the fibers were mercerized and bonded with a Cashew nut shell liquid formaldehyde resin matrix in a compression mould [189]. The fabricated composites were tested and found suitable for roofs and other construction components in tropical developing countries [189].