Curaua Fiber: A New Alternative to Polymeric Composites

The increasing preoccupation with the environment and use of natural products has strongly contributed in the use of material derived from biomass, and in particular vegetal fibers. Within this context curaua fiber, originating from the Brazilian Amazon, has become prominent for its mechanical performance in relation to other vegetal fibers. This work is part of a wide research about the development of hybrid composites with curaua fibers. Its main objective is to present a brief description and characterization of the curaua fiber, still little known in the scientific community, compared to other vegetal fibers traditionally employed in polymeric composites. The characterization consists of tensile test, morphological analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis.