THERMAL DEGRADATION AND DECOMPOSITION OF JUTE-VINYLESTER COMPOSITES

VERA A. ALVAREZ; EXEQUIEL S. RODRIGUEZ; ANALÍA VÁZQUEZ

JOURNAL OF THERMAL ANALYSIS AND CALORIMETRY

Kluwer Academic Publishers

Lugar: Budapest; Año: 2006 vol. 85 p. 383 - 389

1388-6150

Thermal analysis of jute fibre reinforced vinylester resin with 30 vol.% of fibre were performed by TGA/DTGA under dynamic conditions.  The fibres were treated with alkaline solution at different temperatures and the final composition (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) of the fibre was determined by chemical analysis.  Apparent activation energies were determined using a variety of conventional thermogravimetric methods.  Two peaks were found in the composite differential curves: the first peak close to 327ºC and the second peak at 408ºC.  The apparent activation energy values for the second peak decreased when fibre were treated. The addition of the jute fibres produced a slightly decrease in the thermal stability of the composites.