Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
9.7
4.9
Journals
Polymers
Special Issues
New Insights into Fiber-Based Materials
polymers-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Polymers Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

New Insights into Fiber-Based Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Fibers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 340

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Asis Patnaik

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Clothing and Textile Technology, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
Interests: sustainable textiles; waste management; material circularity; technical textiles; nanofibers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sudhakar Muniyasamy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Advanced Polymer Composites, CSIR Chemicals, Pretoria, South Africa
Interests: biopolymers; biodegradable plastics; biocomposites; biodegradation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue entitled “New Insights into Fiber-Based Materials” seeks high-quality studies focusing on the latest developments in fiber-based polymeric materials and their green composites used in multi-disciplinary applications and their environmental impact. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Natural fiber-based materials used for various applications including building, automotive, aerospace, footwear, medical, and hygiene areas.
  • New developments covering sustainability issues related to polymers, fibers, filaments, downstream manufacturing, and disposal processes.
  • Micro- and nano-plastics released from textiles and composites and their environmental impact.
  • Bio(nano)composites, green composites and biobased polymers, and blends.
  • Structure–property–processing relationships.
  • End-of-life options—recycling and biodegradation.

Dr. Asis Patnaik
Dr. Sudhakar Muniyasamy
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biopolymers
  • natural fibers
  • composites
  • fiber-based materials
  • green composites
  • textiles
  • microplastics
  • nanoplastics

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 3883 KB  
Article
Environmental Degradation of Footbed Materials Under Different Conditions
by Asis Patnaik, Sudhakar Muniyasamy and Ashvani Goyal
Polymers 2025, 17(23), 3134; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17233134 - 25 Nov 2025
Viewed by 242
Abstract
Different types of polymeric materials are used as footbeds in shoes. Environmental degradation behavior of polymeric footbed materials is an important parameter for understanding materials’ environmental footprint. Most of the previous studies focus on geotextiles, polymeric insulation materials, and exposure behaviors that are [...] Read more.
Different types of polymeric materials are used as footbeds in shoes. Environmental degradation behavior of polymeric footbed materials is an important parameter for understanding materials’ environmental footprint. Most of the previous studies focus on geotextiles, polymeric insulation materials, and exposure behaviors that are not the same due to the nature of applications of geotextiles and insulations being completely different from the footbeds. There is a lack of studies to understand artificial weathering, the influence of physical–chemical factors, and the subsequent behavior of different types of footbeds. In this paper, we have selected three needle-punched nonwoven footbed materials and studied their environmental degradation behavior by subjecting them to artificial weathering using different exposure durations, viz. 120 h, 240 h, and 360 h. The physical–chemical properties of polymeric footbed materials were characterized by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The selected polymeric footbed materials were made from recycled polyester (RPET), hemp, and shoddy fibers. Furthermore, the RPET footbed was tested for biodegradation in soil and compost conditions for 120 days. The footbed materials were also tested for physical and performance (tensile and abrasion resistance) properties. Hemp footbed materials undergo abiotic degradation after 120 h, but in the case of RPET, it undergoes abiotic degradation after 360 h, resulting in a fragmentation process due to synergistic effects of chemical and hydrolytic degradations. From the DSC results, RPET undergoes a slight thermal transition under abiotic degradation after 360 h, indicating that environmental abiotic factors influence degradation behavior. The tensile and abrasion resistance properties of RPET were the highest, followed by hemp and shoddy materials. The tensile strength range of the materials was between 50.74 and 851.44 N. The weight loss range after abrasion resistance was 0.016–0.014%. From the RPET biodegradation test in soil and compost conditions, the evolved CO2 was 20% and 59%, respectively, after 110 days. The DSC and TGA results indicate that the hemp footbed materials have a higher rate of abiotic degradation as compared to the RPET and shoddy footbed materials. From the RPET biodegradation test in soil and compost conditions, the CO2 degradation values were 20% and 59%, respectively. The obtained degradation results indicate that the synergistic effect of abiotic and biotic conditions greatly influences footbed materials’ biodegradation under natural environmental conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Fiber-Based Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop