Effect of Rice Husk Bleaching on Mechanical Properties of Poly Lactide/Starch/Rice Husk Blend

The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of using cost effective natural fillers in a biodegradable polymer in order to find new materials as green biocomposites in food packaging. In this regard, rice husk (RH) and bleached rice husk (BRH) have been used in the form of powder and the effect of lignin removal on mechanical properties of prepared composites with poly L-lactide and starch were studied. FTIR approved that lignin had been removal from RH. Tensile, charpy impact and hardness tests were implemented to investigate the mechanical properties. The results of these measurements suggested that addition of filler made the composites tougher and the Young modulus of samples were increased by increasing the filler loading. It was also found that the lack of lignin in BRH samples may improve the mechanical properties. Finally, according to the removal of toxic lignin in the samples and modification of mechanical properties by this method, the BRH could have the ability of wide use in the bioplastics and food packaging industries

Keywords:

Rice Husk , Mechanical Properties , PLLA/Starch , Lignin Removal , Modification