Mechanical and thermal properties of hybrid rice husk and coco peat filled acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer

Abstract

The utilization of natural waste material such as rice husk (RH) and coco peat (CP) that can fill a thermoplastic matrix to produce low-cost green composites are interesting to be studied. Weak properties that exist in rice husk and coco peat can be improved through hybridization methods which can reduce deficiencies in both fillers. In this study, the effectiveness of these hybridized biocomposites was evaluated based on the following physical, mechanical and thermal properties. Initially, the samples were fabricated using a combination of melt blend mixer and injection moulding techniques. The RH and CP fillers were incorporated with the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) matrix in different weight fractions commencing with 0% RH - 5% CP, 5% RH - 15% CP, 10% RH – 10% CP, 15% RH – 5% CP and 20% RH – 0% CP respectively. It was found that an increment of rice husk weight ratio in hybrid fibre increased the density of samples. However, it reduced the kinetic water absorption of these biocomposites. Water absorption research exposed that the water uptake was increased at maximum of 20% with the increment compositions of coco peat filler. The 15% RH – 5% CP reinforced ABS exhibited an increment of 17.8% and 7.3% in tensile and flexural strength compared to the best result achieved from the monofibre RH. Result exhibited all rice husk and coco peat filled composites tend to be brittle fracture in manner. Observation on the tensile morphology surfaces using a scanning electron on microscope affirmed the above finding satisfactorily. The degradation period and thermal stability of the biocomposites indicated deterioration with the presence of rice husk and coco peat loading. Thus, it can be concluded that hybrid-natural waste reinforced ABS biocomposites can be utilized as a biodegradable material for engineering applications whereby excellent mechanical properties are paramount.