Current advances in the fire retardancy of natural fiber and bio-based composites – A review

Natural fibers and bio-based composites are competitive to conventional materials in structural and transportation industry. Natural fibers reinforced polymer matrix composites are familiar/common materials currently. Various properties of these composites have been explored in the already available literature, and has been continuing with new developments. They have a risk of flammability in most of the applications which is undesirable. Fire retardant natural fiber and bio-based composite materials have recently gained researchers’ interest. This paper summarizes recent progress regarding flammability of natural fiber and bio-based composites. The mechanism of fire retardancy has been explained. The factors affecting flammability of such composites and characterization techniques required for evaluating fire retardancy have also been described in detail. The reported effects of fire retardant include practices on the other properties of composites.