TITLE:
Mechanical, Dielectric and Shielding Performance of Rice Husk/Polycaprolactone Composites Enhanced via Rice Husk Particles Inclusion
AUTHORS:
Abubakar Yakubu, Zulkifly Abbas, Sirajo Abdullahi
KEYWORDS:
Polymer, Rice Husk, Polycaprolactone (PCL), Particle Size, Dielectric Constant
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.7 No.7,
July
14,
2020
ABSTRACT: Developing new absorbing and shielding materials with a large band of frequency and high performance to allow the coexistence of the electronic components without the damaging electromagnetic interference (EMI) is needed. For this reason, this work is focused on polycaprolactone (PCL) and rice husk particles (RHP) prepared at filler percentage of 0 to 60 wt% leading to the formation of PCL/RHP composites. The RHP was prepared by washing with water, acetone, sun-dried and grinded in a milling machine. The particles obtained were then sieved into sizes of 200, 400, 800 and 1000 μm. The PCL/RHP composites for each of the dimensions were prepared in a Thermo Haake blending machine. The paste obtained from the blend was then fabricated into pellets for different characterization purposes. Mechanical properties of the prepared composites were determined using different analysis tools, while the dielectric and shielding properties of the composites were investigated using the open ended coaxial probe via a vector network analyzer. The results from findings showed that tensile strength, impact strength, flexural strength, elongation at breakage and hardness and the dielectric constant of the samples were affected with inclusion of the RHP. However, the elongation at breakage was observed to decrease with increase in the weight (%) of the RHP. The particle size of RHP played a significant role in enhancing dielectric constant and shielding effectiveness (SE) of the composites, as analysis showed that PCL/RHP composites’ average dielectric constant was 3.6, 3.0, 2.7 and 2.4 while SE was ?12.4, ?10.6, ?7.9, ?6.0 dB for the 200, 400, 800 and 1000 μm, respectively. Based on the result obtained it is concluded that the manufactured composites can be tailored for shielding applications in the telecommunication industries.