天然繊維を用いた複合材料の自動車への応用

摘要

In order to reduce the CO_2 emissions exhausted from automobiles, the possibility of natural plant fibers is reviewed as reinforcement for both petroleum-based resins as well as bio-plastics such as Poly-Lactic Acid in stead of glass fiber. How to utilize natural plant fibers for PMC is also shown. Some problems are forecasted in conjunction with the booming of natural plant fibers such as jute fiber. Finally, bamboo fiber is much focused as one of alternative reinforcement fibers due to its large amount in the world. Some applications of bamboo fiber to PMC are described as well as its extraction methods.%自動車にはポリプロピレン（PP）などの汎用エンプラから，耐熱性，強度の優れたPEEKなどのスーパーエンプラまで，多種多様な石油由来の合成樹脂（プラスチックス）が使われている．2001年の樹脂の使用量は車1台当たり，重量で約8%，容量で約27%を超えている．その後も使用量は増えていることから，現在では恐らく重量で10%を超えていると見積もられている．