TITLE:
Development of Eco-Friendly Composite Material for Pinewood Replacement Using Agricultural Waste
AUTHORS:
Praveen Kumar Tammali, Jens Schuster, Yousuf Pasha Shaik
KEYWORDS:
Polylactic Acid, Husks, Zeolite, Injection Molding Process, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (C9H23NO3Si), Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
11,
2024
ABSTRACT: The demand for wood products contributes greatly to deforestation, resulting in severe environmental effects. Each year, almost 18 million acres of forest are destroyed, which is equivalent to 27 soccer fields vanishing every minute. This rapid deforestation exacerbates climate change, habitat loss, and natural resource depletion. As a result, finding alternatives to traditional wood for building applications such as doors, windows, roofing, beams, furniture, and packaging is essential. This study looked at replacing pinewood with a composite manufactured from agricultural waste, such as rice husks, wheat husks, and safflower husks, together with polylactic acid and zeolite. Alkaline and silane treatment improved the composite’s mechanical and thermal characteristics. This study found that composite 1 from multi-husk and composite 4 from single husk had the highest mechanical properties, such as tensile strength (38.46 MPa & 42.4 MPa), flexural strength (62.9 MPa & 69.2 MPa), and compression strength (49.48 MPa & 46.06 MPa). Similarly, multi-husk Composite 1 has shown the highest thermal properties, such as heat deflection temperature (52.9˚C) and differential scanning calorimetry (172.7˚C), among other composites. The addition of zeolite powder in small quantities (5, 7.5, 10 w%) has proved minimal or no effect on the overall thermal stability of the composite.