Description

Natural fibers are a renewable resource, par excellence, having been renewed by nature and by humans for millennia. They also have carbon neutrality, because they absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide they produce. During the processing, they generate waste, mostly organic, which can be used to generate electricity or green building, and at the end of its life cycle, 100% biodegradable.

Natural fibers have seen greatly enlarged its range of applications due to intensive technical and scientific research undertaken by various institutes around the world, turning these amazing materials into a viable alternative for many situations in engineering, medicine, sports, architecture, design, among others.

The path of the revaluation of natural fibers goes through the improvement of its production sectors, the continuous deepening of scientific knowledge in this area, new marketing strategies and indelibly, the generation of products based on natural fibers.

Following up the success of ICNF2013, held in Guimarães – Portugal, focusing on the topic “Sustainable materials for advanced applications”, ICNF2015 is devoted to the topic “From nature to market” intending to give an important input to turn scientific knowledge into natural fiber-based innovative products. In this way, along with the scientific sessions, Natural Fibrenamics Award is launched as contest to promote and show new products from all over the world.

 ICNF2015 - From Nature to Market, to be held in Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal, aims to be the meeting point for everyone interested in these fantastic materials called natural fibers.

Topics

The conference topics include:

• Session 1: New processes for natural fiber agriculture extraction and processing;
• Session 2: Innovative natural fibers & structures;
• Session 3: Functional natural fibers;
• Session 4: Natural fiber modification techniques;
• Session 5: Advanced fibrous structures based on natural fibers;
• Session 6: Nanodimensional natural fibers;
• Session 7: Natural fiber based polymeric composites;
• Session 8: Green composites;
• Session 9: Natural fiber based cementicious composites;
• Session 10: Applications of natural fibers in high end sectors;
• Session 11: Analytics, modeling and prediction of properties and behavior;
• Session 12: Biomimetics;
• Session 13: Product development based on natural fibers;
• Session 14: Markets for natural fibers;
• Session 15: Sustainability of natural fibers: life cycle assessment studies;
• Session 16: Textile processing of natural fibers;
• Session 17: Properties & characterization of natural fibers & structures;
• Session D: Discover Natural Fibers Initiative session;
• Session A: The Azores geo natural fiber potential discussion session.