Physical and Thermal Characterization of Alkali Treated Rice Husk Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

Rice husk (RH) reinforced polypropylene- (PP-) based composites were prepared by compression molding. The RH was treated with sodium hydroxide solution (1 wt%); then composites were prepared using varying percentages of RH (5 to 20 wt%). The thermomechanical, spectroscopic, and morphological properties of the prepared composites (RH-PP) were investigated. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis showed better interfacial adhesion between alkali treated RH and the matrix PP. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra confirmed the chemical bonding.The results revealed that physical properties as well as thermal stability of the composites improved significantly with the addition of alkali treated RH in PP matrix.

Effect of Strain Rates on Tensile Properties of Kenaf Fiber and Rice Husk Silica Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

“…The yield stress increase and increasing strength rate. The tensile strength and its Young's modulus exhibited an increasing trend for 20 wt% of kenaf fiber and rice husk content [19][20][21]. This proves that the addition of kenaf fiber and rice husk silica as reinforcement increase the tensile strength of composites.…”

Investigation of tribo-mechanical performance of alkali treated rice-husk and polypropylene-random-copolymer based biocomposites

“…However, this structure appears heterogenous, potentially due to the truncated fiber length and observed fiber agglomeration in the RHT WPC. Such fiber orientation irregularity might compromise surface hardness and amplify porosity, impacting the material's overall mechanical attributes [ 34 , 35 ]. Notably, in the alkali-treated samples, the RH fibers appear enveloped by the matrix, a characteristic that may mitigate abrasion during tribological interactions, influencing the composite's tribological properties.…”

Recycling of waste from the rice chain: incorporation of rice husk and rice husk ash in polymeric composites

“…[ ERDOGAN;HUNER, 2018;LAI et al, 2017;LUNA et al, 2015). Depending on the processing methodology, water absorption can be very expressive, reaching up to 45% of water absorption (SOUZA et al 2017).…”