Characterization of pineapple fibers to formulate polymer composites for the development of biodegradable products

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Photo: Junghans, Davi

The use of vegetable fibers as reinforcement in polymeric matrices has been an increasing demand of the industry, mainly because the whole environmental issue. The search for renewable sources, as well as the search for biodegradable products has been increasing in recent years. Pineapple fiber, more precisely from Curauá (Ananas comousus var. Erectifolius), is already being used to replace fiberglass in reinforcing polymer composites, with applications in the automotive industry. However, other wild pineapples can be better valued and explored for their fiber quality. Embrapa Cassava and Fruits has a germplasm bank with 670 accessions belonging to the genus Ananas and that can be evaluated for the proper properties of its fibers for this purpose. It is proposed in this work to obtain polymeric composites using pineapple vegetable fibers added to polymers from renewable sources such as poly (lactic acid) (PLA), polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes from vegetable oils, polyethylene "green" (HDPE) and thermoplastic starch-based polymers.

Status: Completed Start date: Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2010 Conclusion date: Fri Aug 31 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2012

Head Unit: Embrapa Cassava & Fruits

Project leader: Fernanda Vidigal Duarte Souza

Contact: fernanda.souza@embrapa.br

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