## 2 Banana Fibers
### Mechanical Properties  
The tensile properties (TP) of BF can be determined following ASTM standard test procedure D3379 and D3822 [35; 86; 87]. Table 3 shows some typical range values of MP found by some authors, namely: TM, TS, flexural modulus (FM), and ultimate strain (elongation at break) of BF. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**Property** & **Value** & **References** \\ \hline Density (g/cm\({}^{3}\)) & \(1.3\pm 10\) (\%) & [3; 12; 26; 35; 38; 61; 62; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67; 68; 69; 70; 71; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 80; 81; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 90; 91; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 100; 99; 11; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 120; 121; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 13; 19; 14; 16; 18; 19; 15; 17; 19; 16; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 29; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 60; 61; 62; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67; 68; 69; 70; 71; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 80; 81; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 90; 91; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 101; 99; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 19; 121; 14; 15; 16; 17; 19; 18; 19; 20; 21; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 41; 42; 43; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 51; 53; 54; 56; 57; 58; 59; 61; 63; 65; 66; 67; 68; 69; 71; 72; 74; 77; 79; 81] \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Typical properties of BF. Figure 1: Examples of banana fiber products: (**a**) Pressed banana fiber composite; (**b**) Final banana fiber composite, and (**c**) some products manufactured with banana fibers. These images were kindly provided by [PERSON], Chairman of Papyrus Australia Ltd. The prediction of the MP of BF, namely TM, TS, and ultimate strain, can also be presented as a function of the diameter (\(\upmu\)m) of the BF. Table 4 shows some examples found by some authors. All the results presented in Tables 2-4 shows the excellent properties of banana fibers. The mentioned advantages in the introduction section, the MP (TM, TS, FM, flexural strength (FS), ultimate strain (elongation at break), rotting resistance, the specific FS similar to that of glass fibers(GF)), the variability of petroleum prices, the environmental sustainability, their light weight, the fact that BF are stiffer and stronger than sisal fibers [26], and the results of others comparative studies prove the potential and the effectiveness of BF to replace SF (e.g., GF) as a reinforcement of PC, by using various chemical treatments on the banana fibers, and to produce hybrid materials with synthetic fibers or with others natural fibers (e.g., sisal, kenaf, etc.) [1, 4, 6, 9, 19, 26, 30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 45, 47, 57, 66, 81, 89, 90, 91, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 180, 181,  
The first layer of water bounds directly to the -CH\({}_{2}\)OH group and forms a relatively strong hydrogen bond, attracting other water molecules by weaker hydrogen bonding. This weaker bound layer may be thickened by several molecular layers and aims the IR debonding to initiate the development of osmotic pressure pockets at the surface of NF (due to the leaching of water-soluble substances from the NF surface). They can be converted into other substances which are capable of acting as osmotic solutes, disturbing the mechanical integrity of the PCNF system [19; 32; 119; 120; 121]. The moisture absorption tendency in PC reinforced with natural fibers (PCNF) depends on conditions such as temperature and relative humidity. It increases with NF content and levels off at longer periods, which is an indication of saturation. The leveling off period increases with increasing NF concentration [32]. These facts associated with the composition, structure, number of defects in NF, and the fact that surface chemical composition of fibers has an impact on wetting and, thus, on the impregnation dynamic of the final PC [122], constitutes a disadvantage for the industrial use or for their application into PC in the biomedical field and leads to poor compatibility and dispersibility.