Jaime Alexis García‐Guzmán

This study investigates the effect of fiber content and coupling agent concentration on the mechanical and thermal behavior of a polypropylene-based composite. The materials were fabricated via hot compression molding using pellets composed of polypropylene (PP) modified with maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MAPP) and reinforced with short bamboo fibers derived from Guadua angustifolia Kunth (GAK). The fibers were previously extracted through the steam explosion technique. The research was carried out in two stages: first, the composite materials were produced; second, their mechanical and thermal properties were comprehensively characterized. The incorporation of GAK fibers and MAPP significantly altered the mechanical performance of the PP matrix, yielding stiffer composites with improved flexural strength and impact resistance. The optimal formulation, containing 50 wt% GAK fibers and 4 wt% MAPP, resulted in a 322% increase in elastic modulus (2.9 GPa) compared to neat polypropylene (0.7 GPa). Both variables, fiber content and compatibilizer concentration, were found to exert a substantial influence on the mechanical behavior of the resulting composites.

In this study, short bamboo fibers were obtained using diverse extraction methods. Results obtained by the preliminary fiber traction tests reveal that the fibers obtained using steam explosion equipment possess better mechanical properties than those obtained using other methods. These fibers were used to reinforce a polymeric composite material manufactured using hot compression technique. For this purpose, a 3^k factorial experiment design was applied using fiber and coupling agent concentrations as controllable factor and elasticity modulus as response variable to determine their most appropriate level for developing the best natural composite. From this viewpoint, it was found that the best composite material was obtained by combining 50% w/w fiber and 4% w/w coupling agent, as per the corresponding statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). For the response variable, the elasticity modulus of the compound increased by 322% (2.91 GPa) in comparison with that of the polymer matrix (0.69 GPa).

In this article, bamboo fibre bundles of "Guadua Angustifolia Kunth" specie were isolated from different locations of the basa zone: upper, middle and lower, through mechanical extraction method. The elastic modulus and the tensile strength were obtained with preliminary tensile tests. Applying the statistical analysis known as ANOVA, it was determined that the mechanical properties are similar in all the extension of the basa zone. From there, fibre bundles were extracted randomly, and a part of the fibre bundles was treated with NaOH (mercerization). Later, tensile tests with different calibration lengths were made for calculate the elastic modulus and the tensile strength of the treated and untreated fibre bundles. Best results belonged to the treated fibre bundles. A good correspondence between the results obtained in this work and the results reported in the literature was concluded.