Reuse of waste paper and rice hulls as filler in polymeric matrix composites

• Autor(a) principal: Calegari, Eliana Paula
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Porto, Jussara Smidt, Angrizani, Clarissa Coussirat, Oliveira, Branca Freitas de, Duarte, Lauren da Cunha, Amico, Sandro Campos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/166154
• topic: Resíduos de papel; Casca de arroz; Materiais poliméricos; Green composites; Rece hulls; Scrap paper; Castor oil based polyurethane; Compression molding

Concerns for the environment are recurrent in our society, and research on low impact materials such as those produced from waste is an alternative. This work is based on the reuse of scrap paper and rice hulls aiming to increase the life cycle of these waste products and to find better destination. Composites with a volumetric filler content (dispersed phase) of 80% were produced via compression molding using polyurethane (PU) based on castor oil or polyester resin as matrix, in four distinct families: polyester/rice hulls, PU/rice hulls, polyester/paper and PU/paper. The following tests were performed: water sorption, contact angle, hardness, impact and tensile testing. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for fracture morphology study. Basic visual analysis showed greater void content for the rice hull composites, making them less aesthetically appealing compared to paper. It was observed in the case of PU matrix the filler greatly influenced the rigidity since this pure material was more flexible compared to pure polyester. Filler incorporation decreased tensile strength of the polyester matrix but significantly increased that of the PU matrix.