The mechanical properties of polyester/fiberglass composites were studied. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of reusing the wastes taken from spray-up processing of Paraíba state Industries as reinforcement in polyester matrix composites. Composites with 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 wt. (%) of recycled fiberglass were prepared by compression molding and compared with polyester/ virgin glass fiber composites. The mechanical properties and water sorption behavior were evaluated. The results showed that fiberglass wastes are promising to be reused in polyester resin composites. The impact strength was excellent. It can be concluded that the reusing of the fiberglass wastes is viable.

Argilas bentoníticas provenientes do Município de Boa Vista/PB foram utilizadas para a produção de argilas organofílicas. As argilas organofílicas foram obtidas a partir da síntese com quatro tipos de sais quaternários de amônio: cloreto de alquil dimetil benzil amônio (Dodigen), cloreto de estearil dimetil amônio (Praepagen), cloreto de cetil trimetil amônio (Genamin) e brometo de cetil trimetil amônio (Brometo). As argilas tratadas com os sais e a não tratada foram caracterizadas por difração de raios X (DRX) e espectroscopia de infravermelho por transformada de Fourier (FTIR). Em seguida, as argilas foram misturadas com matrizes poliméricas do tipo polietileno (PE) e nylon6 (PA6) por meio de técnicas convencionais de processamento. As misturas foram caracterizadas por DRX, microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) e propriedades mecânicas. Os resultados obtidos por FTIR mostraram a presença dos grupos característicos dos sais na argila e o DRX confirmou a intercalação dos mesmos entre as camadas da argila. As propriedades mecânicas das misturas mostraram um aumento na rigidez em relação aos polímeros puros.

Bentonite clays from Boa Vista/PB were used to obtain organophilic clays. Organophilic clays were obtained with four types of quaternary salts of ammonium: asalkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (Dodigen), esthearildimethylammonium chloride (Praepagen), cethyltrimethylammonium chloride (Genamin) and cethyltrimethylammonium bromide (Bromide). The treated clays with salts and untreated clays were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Then, the clays were incorporated into polyethylene (PE) and Nylon6 (PA6) polymer matrices using conventional processing techniques. The mixtures were characterized by XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanical properties. The results obtained by FTIR showed the presence of specific groups of the salts in the clay, while their intercalation among the clay layers was verified by XRD. As for the mechanical properties, the mixtures were more rigid than the pure polymers.