Per: juliana dos santos carneiro da cunha (IME), Michelle Souza Oliveira (IME), Ulisses Oliveira Costa (IME), Lucas Moura Montenegro Reis (IME), Lucio Fabio Cassiano Nascimento (IME), sergio neves monteiro (IME)
Abstract:
Growing concern about the future of the environment and the impacts of greenhouse gases have motivated researchers to develop alternative materials and less pollutants aiming at better environmental and life quality for living beings. The use of natural fibers is increasingly common in important industrial sectors, such as civil construction, aerospace, automotive and defense. These came as an alternative to replacing synthetic fibers. In addition to their natural advantages, polymer composites reinforced with these materials can be improved through methods of modifying both the fiber and the resin. As natural fibers have high specific properties, they compete in several applications with synthetic fibers. In particular, titica vine fiber (Heteropsis flexuosa), although well-known and widely used in handicrafts, bags and broom making, little is reported about its performance in polymer composites for applications in engineered structure projects. In this sense, the present study thermally evaluated vine fibers incorporated into an epoxy resin matrix with different volumetric fractions of the natural material (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 vol%) through thermogravimetry (TGA). Based on this technique, it was concluded that there was a predominance of increase in the thermal stability of the composite with a higher fiber content in relation to the lower percentages (10, 20 and 30 vol%), reaching a working temperature of 296ºC.