Wood-Poly(furfuryl Alcohol) Prepreg: A Novel, Ecofriendly Laminate Composite

• Published in: Materials Vol. 16; no. 18; p. 6237
• Main Authors: Acosta, Andrey Pereira, Esteves, Bruno, Cruz, Joziel Aparecido da, Aramburu, Arthur Behenck, Kairytė, Agnė, Członka, Sylwia, Ramos, Dionatan Orestes, Goularte, Matheus de Paula, Delucis, Rafael de Avila, Gatto, Darci Alberto, Amico, Sandro Campos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol industry; Aluminum; Analysis; Biodegradable materials; Calorimetry; Composite materials; Curing; ecofriendly composite; ecofriendly resin; Energy consumption; Epoxy resins; Fourier transforms; Furfuryl alcohol; Hydrolysis; Infrared analysis; Kinetics; Laminated materials; Laminates; Lignocellulose; Manufacturing; Mechanical properties; Permeability; pine wood; Polyfurfuryl alcohols; Polymerization; Prepregs; Pressure molding; Shelf life; Software; Sustainable materials; Tensile properties; Thermal degradation; Thermal stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; vegetable fibers; Veneers; Viscosity; Water absorption; Wood laminates; Brazil; Japan
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma16186237

Prepregs are commonly fabricated with non-renewable petroleum-based materials. To reduce the impact of the manufacturing of these materials and to produce more sustainable prepregs, this research aims to manufacture poly(furfuryl alcohol)/wood veneer prepregs and their posterior molding in laminate composites. For this purpose, the vacuum infusion process was used to impregnate the wood veneers, and compression molding was applied to manufacture three- and four-layer laminate composites. Scanning electronic microscopy was used to evaluate the impregnation. the laminate manufacturing and differential scanning calorimetry were used to predict the shelf-life of the prepregs, Fourier-transform infrared was used to evaluate the induced hydrolysis resistance, and thermogravimetric analysis was used to determine the thermal degradation of the laminates. Moreover, water uptake and flexural, compressive, and tensile properties were evaluated. The kinetic models were effective and showed a shelf life for the laminates of approximately 30 days in storage at −7 °C, which is an interesting result for laminates with lignocellulosic materials. FTIR proved the laminates’ excellent resistance to hydrolysis. The water absorption, thermal stability, and mechanical properties did not differ as the amount of wood veneer increased, but these results were up to ~40% higher compared with unidirectional wood laminates found in the literature, which is probably linked to the excellent interface observed with SEM.