There is a growing interest in the use of natural fillers obtained from renewable sources to design environmentally friendly composite materials based on the “cradle to grave” approach. The impetus for this initiative is mainly due to new global environmental regulations, societal concerns, and rapid growth of environmental awareness. This effect is greatly accentuated within the composites industry, which uses large amounts of petroleum-based polymers and synthetic fillers. Generally, natural reinforcements cannot compete with their synthetic counterparts, but they may offer interesting functional or structural properties when used in applications where high mechanical performance is not required. Furthermore, natural reinforcements are not as abrasive and expensive as synthetic alternatives and thus natural fibres and fillers such as sisal, coir, basalt, hemp, flax, and wool may be a good choice for the reinforcement of polymeric and inorganic matrices in composite materials.

We welcome manuscripts that investigate the most recent advances in this field, with particular emphasis on material characterization and processing-structure-property relationships. The topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:

• Polymer composites reinforced with natural fibres and fillers
• Geopolymer composites reinforced with natural fibres and fillers
• Composite materials reinforced with natural nano- or microfillers
• Ceramic composites reinforced with natural fibres and fillers
• Natural reinforcement advanced composites
• Modification of the fiber surface for the optimization of mechanical properties
• Processing of natural, renewable, and biodegradable reinforcements

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/amse/acnr/ according to the following timetable: