Caracterização da cortiça de Calotropis Procera como potencial aplicação em materiais sustentáveis

Abstract

The cork industry throughout the world has stood out for its innovation and constant growth. Today, cork is used in different industrial segments and in the most varied products such as raw cork, boards, coatings, insulation, and composites, among others. The peculiar properties of cork of lightness, elasticity, compression with elastic memory, resistance to friction and hypoallergenic characteristics, among others, associated with advances in research and development in the area, make possible several uses of this 100% natural and renewable raw material. The objective of this work was to develop an ecomaterial obtained from the cork of the Calotropis Procera plant, for potential industrial application and evaluating its mechanical property of tensile strength. The suberose material showed potential cortical characteristics according to the micrograph, confirmed by BET analysis, amorphous structure in its xray diffraction spectroscopy, low density with an average of 0.24 kg/dm³, thermal stability and FTIR peaks characteristic of a cortical material. The average contact angle of the in natura sample presented an average of 139.3º, which characterizes it as hydrophobic. After grinding and compaction of the sample in a mold, it maintained being hydrophobic, with a hydrophilic tendency and a decrease in its contact angle to around 89.4º. The material composed of GreenPoxy (GP) resin and cork was submitted to mechanical tensile strength tests to compare it with the GP. The results of the of GP and samples of GP with cork showed an average fracture resistance in the ratio of around 29% in tensile strength and 26% less in elongation in relation to GP samples and 0.6% less weight. In XPS, EDS and FRX can be confirmed in the amount of C and O as their main constituents. In view of the results, it can be concluded that cork can be used as a filler in thermoset composites.