Wool Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

Sabu Thomas · Seiko Jose

Aug 2022 · Woodhead Publishing

About this ebook

Wool Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites is an in-depth and practical exploration of wool-based composites, covering everything from the morphology of wool fiber to the industrial applications of wool composites. Wool has emerged in the top position for this role because of its unique characteristics. While fine wool is too costly for many such applications, coarse wool of greater than 35 microns fiber length is globally under-utilized. This pioneering book describes every form of wool composite, woven, nonwoven, felt and fiber, including different fabrication methods.

In unique detail, the international team of expert contributors describe the morphology, structure and properties of wool, methods for the chemical modification of wool, different forms of wool-polymer composites, and many exciting emerging applications.

• Provides technical details on a wide range of applications of wool-fiber polymer composites, including in construction and medicine
• Draws on an interdisciplinary panel of experts from fields such as textiles, polymer science and chemistry to create a guide for readers of all backgrounds
• Describes wool characterization techniques in detail

About the author

Prof. Sabu Thomas is the Director of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India. He also serves as the Chairman of Trivandrum Engineering Science and Technology Research Park (TrESPARK) in Kerala, India. Formerly, he was the Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University. His ground-breaking research has covered the areas of polymer science and engineering, polymer nanocomposites, elastomers, polymer blends, interpenetrating polymer networks, polymer membranes, green composites and nanocomposites, nanomedicine, and green nanotechnology. Prof. Thomas has received several national and international awards in recognition for his work and recently received Honoris Causa (DSc) from the University of South Brittany, Lorient, France, in recognition for his contributions to polymer science and engineering. Prof. Thomas has published more than 1400 peer-reviewed research papers, reviews, and book chapters. He has also edited and written 210 books. His H-index stands at 139, accompanied by a citation count of 43,000.

Seiko Jose PhD is a scientist, working at ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan, India. He has over 17 years’ experience in textiles including time spent in industry and academia. His industrial experience is focused on wet processing of cotton, silk, and linen processing units. For the last 8 eight years of his research career, he has worked with a range of natural fibres such as, wool, jute, pineapple leaf fibre, coir, flax, and ramie. He has contributed to 30 research papers and 9 book chapters. His major research areas are extraction and characterization of natural fibre, textile dyeing and finishing, eco-friendly textile processing, natural fibre composites, and natural dyes.