Desenvolvimento de um biopolímero de fécula de mandioca para isolamento térmico

Abstract

Environmental concerns have been rising in recent years, mainly due to the use of various petroleum products, which take years to degrade in nature. To minimize this problem, several studies focus on the use of natural biodegradable materials. In this context, it has been found that manioc starch can be used as raw material for the production of a biopolymer that can be used as a thermal insulation. The biopolymer was produced by a controlled thermal expansion process with volumetric fractions of 30% water and 70% cassava starch. The physical and thermal properties of the material were analyzed in order to obtain data on the feasibility of its use as thermal insulation. The material had a thermal conductivity of 0.152 W / mK, and can be applied as an insulator in hot systems up to 270 ° C and a temperature resistance limit of 270 ° C observed by thermogravimetric analysis. Cassava starch biopolymer proved to be efficient in thermal insulation, due to its properties similar to those of commercially available thermal insulators. In addition, flammability analyzes were performed, to which the material presented as non-flammable. In addition, hardness was analyzed by characterizing it as a hard material. In view of this, the material proved promising to be applied as a thermal insulation. These analyzes were based on ABNT, ASTM and UL-94 standards and the results obtained experimentally prove that the biopolymer of cassava starch can be used for thermal insulation purposes.