Curaua Reinforced Composite

caraua

Curaua Plant

A new journal publication entitled Promising Curaua Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composite for High Impact Ballistic Multilayered Armor was published online in the Polymer Engineering and Science journal. This publication is a joint effort between Institute of Military Engineering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and SURFI team. In this work it is shown that less expensive polyester matrix composites reinforced with 10 to 30 volume fractions of curaua fibers reveal comparable ballistic performance to aramid fabric. Despite being much less stronger and less stiff than aramid, the curaua/polyester composites were associated with similar trauma indentation in a clay witness simulating the human body. The impedance matching and scanning electron microscopy analyses suggest effective energy absorption through ceramic fragments capturing by curaua composites. It is concluded that the curaua fiber reinforced polyester composite could replace aramid fabric in the multi-layered armor systems for personal ballistic protection.

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