Over the last forty years I have been lucky enough to have experienced a unique career researching and developing composite materials, in both industry and academia, during a time of unprecedented expansion in the global composites business. Over that time, I have been involved in areas as diverse as the development of new and novel fibre and composite products through to fundamental materials research. My research efforts have been focussed in three main areas; the fibre-matrix interface region, fibre reinforcements and in particular glass fibres, and the structure-(re)processing-performance relationships of reinforced thermoplastics. The published output of that work is collected together in this series of volumes.

The 15 papers collected in this volume summarise my efforts to bring a natural fibre-polypropylene moulding compound to the market and to foster an improved sense of reality in the natural fibre composites community with regard to the potential of these materials in real composite applications. The subjects covered highlight some of the many pitfalls awaiting the inexperienced researcher working with natural fibres. In particular, they focus on the effects of the non-circularity and complex internal structure of natural fibres. These have a profound influence on their potential as a composite reinforcement and on their level of stress-transfer capability at the fibre-matrix interface. The Achilles’ Heel of natural fibre composite performance, low impact resistance, is discussed in detail.