Processing and characterization of ablative composites used in rocket motors

The main objective of this research work was to obtain two formulations of ablative composites. These composites are also known as ablative structural composites, for applications in atmospherically severe conditions according to the high-temperature, hot gaseous products flow generated from the burning of solid propellants. The formulations were manufactured with phenolic resin reinforced with chopped carbon fiber. The composites were obtained by the hot compression molding technique. Another purpose of this work was to conduct the physical and chemical characterization of the matrix, the reinforcements and the composites. After the characterization, a nozzle divergent of each formulation was manufactured and its performance was evaluated through the rocket motor static firing test. According to the results found in this work, it was possible to observe through the characterization of the raw materials that phenolic resins showed peculiarities in their properties that differentiate one from the other, but did not exhibit significant differences in performance as a composite material for use in ablation conditions. Both composites showed good performance for use in thermal protection, confirmed by firing static tests (rocket motor). Composites made with phenolic resin and chopped carbon fiber showed that it is a material with excellent resistance to ablation process. This composite can be used to produce nozzle parts with complex geometry or shapes and low manufacturing cost.

Avaliação do efeito do tratamento com surfactante químico e Pseudomonas aeruginosa LBI na toxicidade de solo contaminado com óleo lubrificante usado

Petroleum and its subproducts are considered a treat for the environmental quality because of the many environmental accidents that may occur during exploitation, transport and storage. A common remediation technique used in the contaminated areas is based on the use of surfactants, mainly the chemical ones, because they have low production costs. In the other hand, some microorganisms have indicate capacities of producing surfactants that emulsify substances and as result, offer a bigger contact surface for the microbiota degradation. This biossurfactants stand out in comparison with the chemical surfactants because they present lower micelar concentration values, are more tolerant for temperature and pH variation, because they are biodegradable, have low toxicity, higher emulsification and hydrocarbon solubilization index. In this way, after the surfactant application, a toxicity evaluation have to be made to identify the treatment effects. In soil, the activity of some microbial enzymes can show the environmental behavior of the contaminant under different treatment conditions. Dehydrogenase is one example of those enzymes that can demonstrate indirectly the effect of the pollutant on the soil microorganisms. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the toxicity after the addition of a surfactant and/or Pseudomonas aeruginosa LBI in soil contaminated by a mineral automotive lubricant. The previous mentioned bacteria are a potential biossurfactant (rhamnolipid) producer. In order to evaluate the toxicity, the dehydrogenase test was run. In this test, trifeniltetrazolium compound (TTC) after utilized as an electron acceptor, turns into trifenil formazan (TPF), that can be indirectly quantified using the absorbance measured by the spectrophotometer UV-visible. In this way, it was possible to quantify the dehydrogenase activity from the contaminated soil samples... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Síntese de microesferas de quitosana para aplicação em liberação controlada de drogas pelo método de atomização e coagulação

Chitosan is a natural biodegradable polymer with great potential for pharmaceutical applications due to its biocompatibility, high charge density , nontoxicity and mucoadhesion. Gel formation can be obtained by the interactions of chitosans with low molecular counterions such as polyphosphates, sulphates and crosslinking with glutaraldehyde. This gelling property of chitosan allows a wide range of applications such as coating of pharmaceuticals and food products, gel entrapment of biochemicals, whole cells, microorganisms and algae. One of its main applications is the synthesis of microspheres for coating of pharmaceuticals , magnetic particles an other substances. In such a way, we can build targeted drug delivery systems. In the present work, we applied the method of spraying and coagulation. The resulting microspheres, then, were characterized by optical microscopy

Biodegradação de materiais poliméricos por fungos filamentosos

The use of polymeric materials has grown in recent years due to its high durability features, atoxicity, shaping versatility and environment resistance. However, while these features represent good advantages to several industry sectors, it results in one of the most serious environmental problems of contemporary society: the rising accumulation of these material, mainly due to the inadequate disposal of waste. Meanwhile, in order to minimize this problem, some mitigation techniques comes up (arises), among which the use of biodegradable polymers has been gaining attention. Because of their easily action of microorganisms, such material degrade more rapidly, becoming integrated to nature. Furthermore, due to the fact of biodegradation is a natural process, occurring through the action if micro-organisms in the environment itself, it is considered the “cleaner” alternative found so far to plastic components reincorporation in the nature. Among the micro-organisms capable of biodegradation process are the filamentous fungi. These micro-organisms have many advantages over the others, the major one being the capacity to produce a range of enzymes capable of degrading different materials. In this context, the present review made it possible to see the importance of this process as an agent of environmental preservation, suggest the use of blends to minimize the problems of cost and flexibility of biodegradable polymeric materials, as well as noting the lack of studies related to this subject nowadays

Processamento do compósito de fibra de capim-sapê / epóxi e avaliação da resistência à flexão “t” de Student

In recent years a great worldwide interest has arisen for the development of new technologies that enable the use of products with less environmental impact. The replacement of synthetic fiber plants is a possibility very important because this fiber is renewable, biodegradable and few cost and cause less environmental impact. Given the above, this work proposes to develop polymeric composites of epoxy resin and study the behavior of these materials. Both, the epoxy resin used as matrix in the manufacture of sapegrass fiber composite, as tree composites formed by: epoxy/unidirectional sapegrass long fiber, 75% epoxy/25% short fiber, by volume, and 80% epoxy/20% short fiber, by volume, were characterized by bending, and the composites produced with short fibers random were inspected by Optical Microscopy and Acoustics Inspection (C-Scan). For the analysis of the sapegrass fiber morphology, composites 75% epoxy/25% short fiber (sheet chopped) and 80% epoxy/20% short fiber images were obtained by optical microscope and the adhesion between polymer/fiber was visualized. As results, the flexural strength of composites epoxy/unidirectional long fibers, 75% epoxy/25% short fiber and 80% epoxy/20% short fiber were 70.36 MPa, 21.26 MPa, 25.07 MPa, respectively. Being that composite showed that the best results was made up of long fibers, because it had a value of higher flexural strength than other composites analyzed

Biotratamento de sacolas plásticas de supermercado

Supermarket plastic bags are produced by high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) resins. In Brazil, are produced annually around 150 plastic bags per capita. Disposed in landfills, the supermarket plastic bags prevent the passage of water by slowing the breakdown of biodegradable materials and hindering compaction of waste, according to their low degradability. This work investigated the biodegradation of PE bags containing additive oxo-biodegradable and bags without additives: buried in soil columns, exposed in a controlled environment and exposed to air. The analysis methods used to assess the changes brought in the bags with respect to microbial action and exposure time were weight loss, thickness measurement, infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle. The results showed that the use of prodegradant agents such as oxobiodegradable additives in polyethylene bags, buried in soil for 270 days, was not efficient to accelerate the biodegradation by microorganisms. It seems that these additives have been more efficient to degrade the colored pigmentation of printed bags, under the influence of light and heat.