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Growing awareness among the people regarding the use of biodegradable materials instead of the great environmental killer (i.e. these plastic pollutants) has made scientists focus their research on biodegradable composites for more than a decade. These biocomposites have a wide range of applications, principally in automotive industries for parts such as door panels and inserts, rear trunk covers, side rims, tool box area, seat backs, dashboard, and parcel shelves. Nowadays, in addition to the automotive field, the aerospace industry also relies upon these biocomposites for the production of good‐quality, high‐strength, and thermally stable materials for making many critical parts of the aircraft. Their wide range of applications in various fields encourage the industries to focus on the various characterization techniques desirable to make these materials more commercial and also cost effective. In order to find the strength of these materials, these characterization techniques have become more prominent. Its growth in the field of biomedical engineering has fostered many practical and challenging applications in the biomedical field. The bigger challenge with these oil‐based polymers is the environmental issues, which has an indirect effect on the economic growth of the country. This has led to an increased urge for the innovation of biobased materials as an alternative. Also, there is poor sustainability of the petroleum products when it is seen from an environmental standpoint [1]. The advantage of using biobased materials is that they are environmental friendly and much safer for human use/intake when compared to petroleum‐based materials. Further, economic factors leading to hike in oil prices and their demand has resulted in ways of finding biobased materials of both natural and synthetic origin in order to drive away these crude oil‐based polymer materials. One such example of biobased advancements in the biomedical field is the biobased topicals that enhance salicylic acid delivery [2]. Such advancements in the field of medicine have led to the exploration of gel formulations contained in natural polymers for a way of increasing the penetrating capability of the salicylic acid drug delivery to treat acne vulgaris on the skin; moreover, it is safe enough to be used as a topical on human skin. In anticancer drug delivery system, the use of calcium carbonate nanoparticles helps to enhance drug delivery [3]. In order to achieve timely delivery of the drugs in porous structures, the diffusion process through a matrix of the drug has been used in these biobased drug delivery systems [1]. In the recent years, in osteopathic medicines, polyethylene has become a replacement for platinum in joint surgery. One of the current topics for debate is that, some of the debris present in this polyethylene are causing infections in the patients.

In applications such as rotor blades of wind turbines, where controlled fiber orientation is necessary, these biobased composites provide a good and reasonable technical performance. But finding their mechanical characterization becomes a prime necessity before using these composites in real‐time applications. This is because, in some cases, a highly complex loading has to be faced by the composite structure developed. Hence, a number of mechanical characterizations are carried out on the composite material before it is put to real‐time application. Some of the important mechanical tests that are carried out include Tensile test, compression test, flexural test, and impact test.

Awal et al. [4] utilized polylactic acid (PLA) as matrix and cellulosic wood fibers as reinforcement for manufacturing biocomposites. They used injection molding and extrusion molding processes for the fabrication of these composite materials. In order to increase the adhesive nature in between the fiber and matrix interfaces, they used an additive named Bioadimide and this also helped to increase the process speed of the biocomposites.

Boumhaout et al. [5] developed a biocomposite for the purpose of building insulation. The method used for carrying out the manufacturing process was the hand layup technique and the authors used date palm fiber mesh with mortar as the reinforcement material. Their research findings showed that these bioreinforcements are capable of increasing the insulation properties by decreasing 70% of its thermal conductivity. Ortega et al. [6] developed a PA11 (polyamide)‐based biocomposite using stone ground wood (SGW) as reinforcement. Extrusion–injection molding technique was used for the preparation of these samples. It was concluded that, when the weight percentage of SGW was about 50%, the tensile strength of the prepared biocomposites was at its maximum.

Shibata et al. [7] made a biopolymer using a biodegradable matrix (cornstarch) and kenaf/bamboo as reinforcement using press forming method. The cox model was used to predict the flexural modulus of unidirectional and random‐oriented fiber composites. The values predicted were in a greater agreement with the experimental values. Arao et al. [8] used PLA as a biodegradable matrix for preparing biobased composites. They used jute fibers as a reinforcement. They suggested that, by using a well‐compounded pallet in the injection molding process, the tensile strength and Young modulus of developed composites can be improved. A novel nanocomposite biodegradable material using graphene oxide as reinforcement and chitosan as the matrix has been developed by Khan et al [9]. For successfully preparing these composite films, a technique called solution casting technique was used. The developed biodegradable films are having very good tensile strength and thermal stability and hence they could be used successfully in several biomedical applications. Table 2.1 shows some of the examples of commercially available biobased thermosetting polymers.