ABSTRACT The great biodiversity that exists in Peru and its climate, produce a sort of natural greenhouse that allow the development of various indigenous agricultural crops interesting for the international market, many of which have already achieved position and some are missing to do so. Peru is a world exporter of protein and nutritional species; however another segment of great potential is that of fibrous plants, which are found in the valleys of the coast, altitudes of the Andes and the Amazon rainforest; being the third largest country in South America, Peru has 7.6 million hectares with agricultural potential, of which 4 million remain to be developed by FAO. Peru owns 84 of the 117 known life zones in the world and 11 natural eco-regions, which makes it possible to produce a diversified portfolio not only of food but also of plants for the purpose of industrialization in sector...

ABSTRACT This work evaluated the influence of the concentration of NaOH (100, 200 and 300 g/L NaOH) in the mercerization process at 25 °C for 1 h, and of the percentage (15, 20 and 25% m/m) of Mauritia flexuosa fibers on impact resistance in a polyester matrix composite. The polyester matrix composite was obtained by the compression molding process, at a constant pressure of 24 MPa. The obtained plates had a dimension of 130 mm long x 80 mm wide x 3.4 mm thick. Specimens for the impact assay were extracted from the obtained plates under the EN ISO 179-1 standard. Likewise, the fiber-reinforced composites without treatment were also evaluated, all the fibers were characterized before and after the NaOH treatment by means of the chemical characterization of the fiber, absorption percentage, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( FT-IR). The result...