Bio-composites from Canola Oil Based Resin and Hemp Fibers

INTRODUCTION The environmental concerns, including dwindling crude oil resources, high oil prices, pollution, greenhouse CO2 emissions, and toxicity in the environment, married to societal pressures towards sustainable development are currently making countries around the world turn to biomass as a renewable resource for a variety of products: fuels, lubricants, chemicals, polymers, fibers, neutraceuticals, etc. Injection moldable bio-composite, made from natural fibers and polypropylene, has been increasingly used in automotive industry [1-2]. Thermoset resins synthesized from soy-bean oil have been shown to have a great potential as matrix in composites manufactured using VARTM and SMC [3]. This study has been extended to Canola oil [4] since the latter is believed to yield better properties than the soy bean oil based resin due to low amount of saturated fatty acid. The present study is focused on manufacturing and evaluating the properties of biocomposites made using the canola-oil based thermoset resin and hemp fibers.