Micro-cellulose fibers filled epoxy foams

P. M. STEFANI*, C.J. PEREZ, V.A. ALVAREZ, A. VAZQUEZ

JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE

Wiley

Año: 2008 vol. 109 p. 1009 - 1013

0021-8995

Dynamic-mechanical behavior of micro-cellulose fibers reinforced epoxy foams was investigated. Micro-celullose fibers were obtained from sisal fibers by a several step processes including chlorination, alkaline extraction, and bleaching. Reinforced and pure epoxy-amine samples without foaming were used for comparison. It was determined from SEM experiments, that the micro-cellulose modifies the final morphology of the foam, decreasing the average cell size and increasing the number of cells per volume unit.  The dynamic-mechanical behavior of the reinforced samples showed improvements with respect to the unreinforced foam.