*3.5. Abrasive Wear Resistance*

Perhaps more important than the floor's ability to resist impact is its ability to withstand abrasion for long periods without wear loss. In this particular case, the biocomposites made with piassava powder reinforcing the COPU resin presented satisfactory results, since in all the cases studied the total material loss due to wear was lower than the standard requirements. The results in Table 3 show the amounts of material loss in wear tests after 500 and 1000 m on the abrasive track.


**Table 3.** Loss of material in the abrasive wear test for COPU resin (0%) and its piassava powder biocomposites after 500 and 1000 m on the abrasive track.

The results in Table 3 show that the addition of piassava powder up to 30 vol% decreased by more than three times the wear resistance compared to the pure resin. This was somewhat expected for this kind of material since the interface between the two was relatively weak because of bubbles (Figure 7). Actually, by adding a material that creates a weak bond with the resin, the reinforcement should easily be pulled out from the matrix, leaving a hollow behind. In this scenario, the interface between the two phases should provide a weaker material. The fact that the biocomposites presented a total wear lower than half of the standard requirement from Table 1 revealed an interface that was moderately strong.
