DYNAMIC-MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYESTER MATRIX COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH EUCALYPTUS FIBERS

摘要

Recently, the eucalyptus fibers have been investigated as a potential option in composites application, due to some advantages in comparison with synthetic fibers. It is largely cultivated in all Brazilian territory. The present work has as objective to characterize the dynamic-mechanical behavior of eucalyptus fiber composites subjected to thermal and mechanical constraints. In this work, the temperature variation and the dynamic-mechanical parameters of polyester composites incorporated with up to 30% in volume of eucalyptus fibers were investigated by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) experiments. The results showed that the incorporation of eucalyptus fibers tends to increase the viscoelastic stiffness of the polyester matrix. It was also observed changes in the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the structure dumping capacity of the composites with increasing fraction of fibers.