Determination of Mechanical Properties of Biodegradable Composites Made by Pine Resin Corn Fibers and Henequen Fibers

Flexion tests were performed (ASTM D790) for two biodegradable composites, the first one made of pine resin as matrix and henequen fibers as reinforcement, varying the percentage reinforcement. The second composite made of a matrix of cellulose obtained from a mixture of recycled paper and water and reinforced with maize bract fibers (the leaves that cover the corn cob) and infiltrated with pine resin. Five samples were evaluated for each compound in an Instron universal machine (load cell: 5 kN). For the henequen fibers and pine resin composite specimens were prepared according to standard by the method of hot casting resin, henequen fibers both short and long (127mm, 10mm) were included prior to discharge the matrix. The drying was at room temperature for 1 minute. Tests were conducted with different compositions of matrix / reinforcement by varying the amount of fiber in 26%, 20% and 14% of the specimen. The long fibers longitudinally traverse the specimen (127mm) and short fibers (10 mm) are dispersed in the mixture. The second composite is produced from corn fiber preforms and cellulose by the method of compression molding, dried in oven at 100 ° C for 2 hours. The preforms were infiltrated with pine resin by compressed air (25 psi). We analyzed the effect of corn fiber content in weight percentages of 10%, 30% and 50% with respect to cellulose and two lengths of corn fiber (22.25μm and 487 μm). Under study conditions, corn fiber generates a negative effect on the flexural strength of the compound. By increasing the fiber content of corn and its size, the bending strength decreased in almost all cases, is attributed to a lack of uniformity in the distribution of corn fibers. However, flexural strength values obtained were similar to materials such as wood, found in the literature. This projects the potential of the compound to replace, in certain applications, non-sustainable material