INFLUENCE OF THE ORGANIC PRO-DEGRADANT ON THE PERMEABILITY OF AGROTEXTILE USED IN AGRICULTURE

Abstract

Every day, the search for sustainable alternatives in the agricultural market increases that do not impact or have a less aggressive impact on the environment, people's health and the well-being of society. With this, it was developed for use in agrotextile crops that protects them from insects, heat, rain, strong wind and significantly reduces the use of pesticides in crops. These agrotextiles are manufactured from nonwoven blankets which guarantee good mechanical properties and excellent permeability to air and humidity, which is very favorable to the development of crops. These non-woven blankets are disposable and used at each development cycle in crops on crops. With that, the search for technologies that favor the degradation of agrotextiles started, maintaining the proper properties of the nonwoven for this application. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the influence of the addition of the organic degrading agent (PDO) on the nonwoven permeability properties. The raw material used for the nonwoven is polypropylene (PP) and the PDO in two levels. The properties of air permeability, surface tension and hydrophilicity of the nonwoven were analyzed with the addition of pro-degradant. Results of the surface tests showed that there were no significant variations in the water absorption characteristic of the agrotextile with the addition of both PDO levels. However, there was a decrease in air permeability.