Sugarcane Straw Reinforced Castor Oil Polyurethane Composites: Fiber Characterization and Analysis of Composite Properties

This work was concerned with the development of polyurethane (PU) composites reinforced with cellulose fibers attained from sugarcane straw. For the obtainment of cellulose, sugarcane straw was pretreated and delignified. For the production of the PU, the polyol (castor oil) to diisocyanate mass ratio was 1.5:1.0. Reinforcement of the matrix was done, changing the concentration of cellulose fibers (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% w/w). The efficiency on the obtainment of cellulose fibers was verified by chemical characterization and the fibers morphological aspects by scanning electron microscopy. The influence of fibers content in the composites was studied by thermal analyses, tensile and moisture absorption tests.