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In an effort to improve the competitiveness of the coir industry in Sri Lanka and to benefit from the developments of the international Natural Fibre Composite (NFC) markets the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) in collaboration with the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands has now completed a project on "Composite applications using Coir fibre" that was initiated by the private sector through the Coir Cluster of Sri Lanka.

This FAO project that was funded by the Common Fund for Commodities and the USAID funded Competitiveness Initiative that had the main objective of exploring the potential use of coir fibre in composite materials also sponsored the training of a Research officer from ITI at the Technical University of Delft.

The growth of NFCs is mainly driven by developments in Europe and in particular by the automotive industry. The many car components, (door liners, boot liners and parcel shelves) that were traditionally made with glass fibre reinforced polyester or PP are now being replaced by fibres such as jute or flax. Even though coir fibre is used in several applications, its use in composites for further and new applications is lagging behind in spite of the fact that composite technology is an area that is showing much potential.

There is much speculation on the pros and cons on the use of coir, but no sound technical basis and as such private companies who are keen to develop products based on coir-based composites are at a disadvantage.

The project that was carried out at the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands in collaboration with the ITI addressed this issue.

With the project now complete, The Coir Council International in association with the ITI is organising a workshop on October 28 and 29 at the BMICH to disseminate the findings and obtain input from stake-holders as to the future direction of coir fibre composites. K. A. S. Gunasekera, Secretary, Ministry of Plantation Industries will be the Chief Guest.

The objectives of the workshop are to share the exploratory R&D results of coir fibre in composites and to identify market development activities so as to arrive at an action plan. The project has proved that coir can be used in composites but with some problems. Some typical applications will also be demonstrated and discussed.

The challenge ahead of this industry would no doubt be to find practical solutions as to how the opportunities of NFC can be explored and how the industry must be organised to achieve this purpose.

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