Sustainable Design through jute fiber composite

Nowadays, the world faces unprecedented challenges in social,environmental and economic dimensions. In particular, the automotive industry confronts a moment of crises, and based on the ecodesign it has been transforming the challenges in opportunities. In this context, the use of natural fibers has presented several advantages to design "greener" automotive components. Thus, this work presents an integrated approach to introduce environmental concerns in SMEs, based on natural composite materials. Jute fibers were investigated to replace glass fibers as reinforcement to produce structural composites. The surfaces of the jute fibers were modified by treatments, improving their wetting behaviour and the mechanical properties of the composites. The characterization of the composites was obtained different tests and methods. Through an automotive case study, the results show the importance of the environmental parameters for the project. They demonstrated the advantages of replacing glass fiber for jute fiber composites to produce the enclosures of the Buggy case study, corroborating with the Triple Bottom Line concept.