Polybutylene Succinate/Calcium Carbonate Based Biocomposite Film Reinforced with Silica Derived from Non-glutinous Rice Husk

The main purpose of this work is to use biomass-based silica made of non-glutinous rice husk as a green and novel additive for polybutylene succinate (PBS)/calcium carbonate (CaCO3) composite film. The approach started from combusting the acid-treated biomass at 600 degrees C for 30 min to obtain Rice Husk Silica (RHS) ash with 11.76 wt% and a purity of 99%. Not only the highly purified RHS could be utilized as an additive to minimize the use of PBS matrix, but the RHS could function as a co-additive along with CaCO3 particles to reinforce the mechanical as well as thermal properties to the composite film. Throughout, different sizes of CaCO3 were carefully studied from 100, 325, or 1250 mesh in size and the content of RHS was varied from 0 to 15 phr to acquire the optimal conditions for these two additives. The effect of physical properties, mechanical properties, thermal properties, and morphology of all the PBS composite films were thoroughly investigated when either one of the additive contents were varied. The optimum additive conditions were found when 20 phr and 1250 mesh sizes of CaCO3 and 10 phr of RHS were used. With this optimization, the strength and thermal properties of the PBS composite film has been increased significantly (8.03 vs. 13.97 N mm(-2) and 491.83 vs. 496.00 degrees C, respectively). This research did not only introduce two types of environmental and eco-friendly additives but also successfully enhanced the pre-existing mechanical and thermal properties of the PBS composite films. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The main purpose of this study is to use biomass-based silica made of non-glutinous rice husk as an eco-friendly additive for PBS/CaCO3 composite film. The optimum conditions were found when 10phr of RHS and 20phr of 1250 mesh sizes of CaCO3 were used, resulting in significantly improved strength and thermal properties of the PBS composite film.