Valorização de resíduos lignocelulósicos da biomassa regional com potencial para obtenção de compósitos poliméricos

Abstract

Lignocellulosic fibers have become an economical and ecological alternative for use as reinforcements and fillers in composites made of virgin or recycled polymers. The present work was subdivided in three papers that focus different aspects of the development of composites. The first one had involved the modification of lignocellulosic particles, using the cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) as the source of cardanol. The objective was increasing in the degradability of polypropylene (PP) composites made of different types of lignocellulosic particles. Thermo-oxidation tests and analyzes of the mechanical behavior, chemical composition and physical properties of the samples allowed the verification that composites produced with CNSL-modified particles degraded in half the time of the conventional ones. The second article aimed at optimizing the methodology of chemical modification of lignocellulosic particles surface with CNSL that can also be used as an intermediary step in further functionalization of lignocellulosic particles, as it introduces upon its surface higher reactivity sites. The efficiency of the chemical modification methodologies was evaluated with the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TGA) and contact angle. The behavior of composites made of the modified particles in polypropylene matrix was also evaluated by mechanical tests and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). The third paper dealt with the production of PP composites made of cashew wood flour and carnauba leaf flour. The physical, mechanical and morphological properties were evaluated by TGA, differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical tensile and flexural tests, and SEM. Composites made of bulk fibers, mercerized and coupled with maleic anhydride were compared and the best performances were observed in the composites using maleic anhydride as coupling agent and carnauba fibers.