Life Cycle Assessment of Fiber Composites_final__rättad

2.3.2. Stiffness
Another characteristic of composites that has made them popular is their
stiffness to density ratio. The stiffness helps in building various structures.
This is the reason that fiber composites have various structural applications.
The stiffness can be tailor made and usually depends on the spatial
configuration of the reinforcements. It also depends on the type of fiber used,
as the synthetic fiber composites are stiffer than the natural fiber ones.
2.3.3. Expense
A lot of composites are manufactured at a lower cost as compared to other
material such as steel, concrete etc. As for the fiber composites, they may be
competitive at initial cost that includes manufacturing cost, they are
substantially less expensive in terms of installation cost, and are far less costly
to maintain. Fiber composites have been found to be responsible for setting up
cost effective structures.
2.3.4. Environmental Sustainability and Sustainability of
composites
A lot of research is being conducted in order to see which plants can provide
raw material for composites and how to make them more environmental
friendly. The use of composites have reduced the impacts on the environment
as it has reduced the use of various toxic compounds and increased that of
environment friendly products. It helps in various natural disasters such as
earthquakes. Houses may be built in earthquake zones using lightweight
composites and therefore may help in reducing the impact on human life when
disaster strikes. Indeed most earthquake related deaths occur due to the fact
that people are being buried under heavy concrete and metal beams.
Lightweight structures have increased fuel efficiency in cars, buses, ships, etc.,
thus saving on fuel consumption and increased payload.
2.4. Classification of Composites
Composites can be classified into the following categories:
2.4.1. Blends
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