Resumen

MORA-ESPINOSA, William Javier  y  RAMON-VALENCIA, Bladimir Azdrúbal. Thermal, mechanical, and morphological characterization of Colombian natural fibers as potential reinforcement for biocomposites. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2017, vol.41, n.161, pp.479-489. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.525.

This study was conducted in the field of materials science and engineering and focused on the development of new eco-friendly components. For this purpose, we evaluated five Colombian natural fibers: damagua (Poulsenia armata), quérregue (Astrocaryum standleyanum), palm mat (Astrocaryum malybo), wild cane (Gynerium sagitatum) and iraca (Carludovica palmata), to evaluate their viability as reinforcement in composite materials. We measured the thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of these natural fibers by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the thermal analysis, which showed their hydrophilic character and their stability at high temperatures. We also tested their resistance to traction under static axial forces and we found variations in their mechanical properties. We found that guérregue and wild cane fibers showed maximum competitive strength values, similar to those found in other studies with natural fibers, while the other three fibers had a poor performance. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the microstructure of the fibers showing a morphology composed of lumen and cell wall with variations among sizes, a behavior which is linked to their mechanical properties. As a result, we found that two of the fibers complied with the conditions of thermal stability and tensile stress to be used as reinforcement in the manufacturing of biocomposites with polymeric matrices.

Palabras clave : Natural fibers; Reinforcement; Mechanical properties; Thermogravimetric analysis; Scanning electron microscopy.

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