Fiber Wars: Who's Winning?

Natural fibres and Synthetic fibres are separate entities and are workable to specific end uses. In fact synthetic fibres complement deficiencies of natural fibres and replace them in industrial uses calling for strength, durability, chemical resistance etc. Natural and Synthetic fibres are compliment to each other and certainly of no threat to each other and have their share in the fibre world for ever.

It all depends on your definition of "winning". As long as problems are solved, and engineering / design challenges overcome, at a price that is acceptable, it doesn't matter which is chosen, and is deemed the winner for that application or design. It should never be an "Us vs. Them" attitude...get caught up in that, and you will ocassionally overlook or disregard the optimal solution (price, performance, properties, etc). Having worked with reinforced composites for over 20 years (thermoplastic and thermoset), I often have seen that no matter how hard you try, you can't always make a square peg fit a round hole. Natural fibers should continue to grow in use, in suitable applications...silk has been around thousands of years, as has woven cotton and paper...two of which are used extensively today as the reinforcement in a variety of composites. As is commonly undertsood, the most significant issues with natural fibers are moisture content, chemical resistance, heat resistance, weatherabilitt, and variability in feed stock. In many cases where these are critical, or at least important characteristics, man-made is often the best route to go. Applications where they are not so critical, such as the substrate for automotive interior trim, archetectural trim, tooling and the like may benefit from the ease of machining, less abrasive, often lighter-weight home-grown (?) supply.

Hemp,ie marijuana, is the strongest known natural fiber. A pair of jeans made from it can outlive the owner. Hemp stem fibers cast in resin has been shown in studies in europe, to make beams that are stronger for their size,than steel for construction.And leave a far smaller carbon footprint to produce.Synthetics will always maintain a place in industry though, because it is easier to get a barrell of oil than a truckload of hemp.But that may soon change,with hemp production being decriminalized worldwide,one place at a time. Besides,the class 3 hemp that makes the longest and strongest fibers will just give you a headache from smoking it, as the active thc content is extremely low.The US already imports tons of hemp material from canada and a few other places.The hemp can be grown in crappy soil,using no pesticides,herbicides,incecticides,fungisides or fertilizer.And it is the only known crop that improves the soil quality with year after year planting in the same place.

oh,yes and i forgot to mention the fact that most of the diesel farm equipment can be powered directly off of the oil produced by the hemp seeds, and the leftover grain mash can be fed to a bio digester to make methane gas or fed as a high quality foodstock to farm animals and people.And lets not forget about the paper that can be made from the fiber,without the harmful chemicals needed to turn trees into paper. And the medicinal benifits,as well. Speaking of which, i just remembered, it is time for my daily dose,lol.

As I understand, there's no question of wars as they are both independent products. Its only in the minds of crass consumers who deem the scenarios of confrontation as 'wars.'

No doubt, depleting natural fiber resources are a cause for concern and that issue only has fueled the search and thirst for man made fibers.

According to me both need to co-exist and flourish and never should an eventuality occur when either survives at the cost of the other, or else it will be doomsday for all!

So, lets talk research and better fibers; be it natural or man made, and get going!