Natural Polymers

Maya Jacob John is senior researcher at Polymers and Composites Competence Area at Materials Science and Manufacturing, CSIR, South Africa. She completed her Ph.D from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. Dr. John's primary research interests are in lignocellulosic fiber reinforced composites and in biocomposites. She has published more than 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, contributed more than 10 book chapters in her field of interest and is co-editor of one book. Sabu Thomas is professor at the School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India. He received Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and a B.Tech in Polymer Science and Technology from Cochin University. Prof. Thomas has gained additional experience as a visiting professor at a number of universities around the world. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the American Chemical Society, his research has led to the publication of some 360 articles in international peer reviewed journals, several book chapters and patents. The co-editor of four books, he has been a visiting professor and lecturer at some of the world's leading polymer research laboratories.

Volume 1;

Natural Polymers - Morphology, structure, properties and applications;

Biomimetics - Stealing ideas from nature - An Insight;

New sources for natural fibres;

Co-relation between structural anisotropy in natural fibres and mechanical properties in composites';

Life cycle assessment of natural fibre composites;

Flame retardant characteristics of natural fibre composites;

Natural fibre composites;

Moisture sorption and mechanical properties of natural fibre composites;

Environmentally friendly coupling agents for natural fibre composites;

General techniques for interfacial characterization of natural fibre composites;

Wool fibres in blends and composites;

Zein proteins, composition, structure, properties and film making;

Silk fibre - composites;

Spider silk - Properties and Characterization;

Mussel Byssus Fibres - A Tough Biopolymer;

Volume 2;

Nanocellulose - Potential reinforcement in composites;

Chitosan nanocomposites;

Textile fibres based nanocomposites;

Raman spectroscopy as a tool to characterize polymer nanocomposites;

Soyprotein nanocomposites;

Nacre from mollusk shells;

Nanocomposites from furanic derivatives;

Starch based nanocomposites;

Processing and Industrial applications of natural polymer nanocomposites;

Protein based Polymer Nanocomposites for Regenerative Medicine