Mechanical behavior of piassava fiber reinforced castor oil polymer mortars

From the past decades, growing global awareness concerning natural resources and recycling has resulted in the interest on biocomposites. Natural fibers embedding on natural polymers constitute an excellent alternative for the development of biocomposites. The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of natural fibers, piassava (Attalea Funifera Mart) scraps from broom industry, as reinforcement of natural polymer based mortars. The biopolymer matrix is manufactured from castor oil obtained by expressing the seed of the plant Ricinus Communis. Mechanical properties of castor oil polymer mortars reinforced with 1 and 2 wt%. of piassava fibers lees are analyzed with particular regards to compressive, flexural and fracture properties. The results showed that castor oil polymer mortars reinforced with piassava fiber lees produces similar properties to epoxy based polymers mortars therefore, proving that it is an excellent biocomposite alternative.