Evaluación de las propiedades mecánicas de películas de celulosa de bagazo de caña y zeolita a partir de diferentes formulaciones

Abstract

The films are thin layers, which can be made by extracting cellulose from agricultural plant residues, to make their mechanical properties more resistant, other additives are added such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) which decomposes easily, starch which is a natural polymer that has the ability to gelatinize and harden, glycerin which acts as a plasticizer and zeolite which can help the mechanical behavior. The sugarcane bagasse cellulose used was characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analysis. The crystallinity index of the cellulose was 50.67%, while the average crystal size was 34 Å. XRF analysis revealed that the cellulose is composed of 2.5% Al2O3, 5.66% SiO2, 0.14% CaO, 0.03% MnO, and 0.035% Fe2O3. For the elaboration of the films, the Casting method was applied, which consisted of pouring a homogeneous solution in rectangular molds of 10.0 x 30.0 cm and leaving them to dry in an oven at 40 ºC for 24 hours, this solution was composed of glycerol (1.0%), cassava starch (1.5%), polyvinyl alcohol (1.0%) and different concentrations of cellulose and zeolite. The 1.0% and 1.3% sugarcane bagasse cellulose and 0.2% and 0.5% clinoptilolite zeolite were used for the formulation of four treatments with three replicates to obtain 12 experimental units that were subsequently sent for analysis to determine the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties tests were carried out in accordance with ASTM D3039/D3039M-17, using the WAW600B universal testing machine. The results showed that the treatment prepared with 1.0% cellulose and 0.2% zeolite had a higher tensile strength (1.97 MPa ±0.234) and modulus of elasticity (54.0 MPa ±16.045) compared to the other treatments. On the other hand, the treatment performed with 1.3% cellulose and 0.2% zeolite had a better elongation percentage (4.947% ±1.535). Additionally, a comparison of the mechanical properties with the parameters of the National Standard in force (INEN 2290) was carried out, where it was observed that they do not comply with the established values.