Environmental, economic, and technical reasons justify research efforts aiming to provide natural materials with possibility of replacing synthetic fiber composites. Commonly known lignocellulosic fibers, such as jute, sisal, flax, hemp, coir, cotton, wood, and bamboo have not only been investigated as reinforcement of polymeric matrices but already applied in automobile components. Less common fibers, such as curaua, henequen, fique, buriti, olive husk, and kapok are recently being studied as potential reinforcement owing to their reasonable mechanical properties. The relatively low thermal stability of these fibers could be a limitation to their composites. The works that have been dedicated to analyze the thermogravimetric stability of polymer composites reinforced with less common lignocellulosic fibers were overviewed

The exceptional tensile strength of ramie fiber has motivated investigations on its application as reinforcement in polymeric composites. In this study the temperature variation of the dynamic-mechanical parameters of epoxy matrix composites incorporated with up to 30% in volume of ramie fiber were investigated by DMA tests. The parameters were the storage modulus, loss modulus and tangent delta. The investigation was conducted in the temperature from 20 to 200°C in an equipment operating in its flexural mode at 1 Hz under nitrogen. The results showed that the incorporation of ramie fiber tends to increase the viscoelastic stiffness of the epoxy matrix. It was also observed sensible changes in the structure damping capacity when the fraction of fiber is increased in the composite. These results indicate that the segmental mobility of the epoxy chains is affected by interaction with ramie fibers in the composite.

The incorporation of an electric arc furnace dust, a typical waste from steel-making plant, into clayey ceramics used for civil construction was investigated. Ceramic body compositions were prepared with incorporations of up to 20wt% of the waste into two types of clays, one from Argentina and another from Brazil. The plasticity of the compositions was evaluated by the Atterberg method. Specimens were prepared by uniaxial press-molding and then fired in a laboratory furnace at 850°C. The technological properties related to water absorption and diametral compression were determined. The results showed that it is technologically feasible to recycle the evaluated steel-making waste into red ceramics, fabricated from both types of clay