Analysis of natural fiber reinforced composite material for the helmet outershell - a review

Composite materials with thermoplastic matrices and a reinforcement of natural fibers are increasingly regarded as an alternative to material replacement for various applications. The substitution of the traditionally used composite of natural fibers such as sisal, banana and Roselle can lead to a reduction of the component's weight and furthermore to a significant improvement of specific properties like impact strength, crash behavior. One of the major fields of application for such materials can be found in structural components manufacturing of helmets. The helmet manufacturing aspects are reviewed. Both the thermoplastic and the natural fiber composite shell manufacturing techniques are presented with specific mentioning of the advantages and disadvantages to each type from the manufacturing point of view. Then the properties such as stiffness, strength young’s modules, and Poisson ratio of helmet from existing model is compared with the natural fiber composite material.