DEDICATÓRIADedico este trabalho, com amor e gratidão, a Deus, que tem me abençoado e conduzido os meus passos, aos meus pais Antonio e Maria Celeste, aos meus irmãos Daniel, Thaís e Letícia, às minhas avós Regina (in memorian) e Neide, à senhora Georgina de Paula e a todos aqueles que, com muito amor e paciência, contribuíram de tantas formas, com a minha formação pessoal e profissional. AGRADECIMENTOAo professor Carlos Yujiro Shigue, pela atenção a paciência em me orientar neste trabalho, além das inúmeras conversas e conselhos, os quais têm enriquecido a minha formação acadêmica.Ao órgão de fomento CAPES, pela bolsa de estudo concedida.

In this work we report the preparation and evaluation of the mechanical characteristics of resin-bond composite abrasives using virgin and recycled alumina grains. The composite abrasives were made with phenolic resin as binder and as-received virgin and recycled alumina grains. Three different recycled alumina grains were studied: i) alumina from wood firing resin-bond abrasive tools; ii) alumina from wood firing vitrified-matrix abrasive tools; and iii) ground alumina from vitrified-matrix abrasive tools. The virgin alumina grains were employed in order to compare the mechanical performance of the prepared composite abrasive. The composition of alumina grains, analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy revealed the recycled alumina grains have lower alumina content and higher concentration of silica in vitrified-matrix abrasives samples. The sand blast penetration tests have shown lower penetration depth in the virgin and the ground vitrified-matrix grains composites. The impact strength test results revealed its dependence on the alumina and silica content: samples with higher alumina content present the higher impact resistance whereas samples with higher silica content present lower impact strength.