Development and Characterization of Green Composites for Social Housing

Resumo

Civil construction is one of the sectors of society that cause the most environmental impacts. The high
consumption of natural resources, emission of carbon dioxide in the manufacture of industrialized materials,
changes in soil, worsening of heat islands, waste production and water consumption. Therefore, the search for
sustainable materials is gaining more prominence. Thus, a solution found is the use of composites reinforced with
vegetable fibers and biodegradable matrix, called biocomposites. In addition to their sustainable character,
vegetable fibers are low specific weight, abundance, low cost, and non-toxicity. The present research aims to
develop and characterize 100% vegetable composites, using jute fiber fabric embedded in a liquid castor-based
polyurethane matrix for application as wall and roof elements of social housing. These plates, in turn, are produced
by the compression molding process, where layers of fabric and matrix are interspersed and compressed. The
specimens produced with 40% fiber were tested under bending according to the ASTM D790 standards to check
mechanical properties. The specimens were made in three directions (0°, 45° and 90°) to analyze the differences
in response in each case. As a result, for the main direction the flexural strength reached 37.2 MPa, while the
lowest result occurred in the 45° direction with a resistance of 16.9 MPa.