13 - The use of rice straw and husk fibers as reinforcements in composites

Abstract

Rice straw and rice husk fiber are underutilized agricultural residues with potential for use in reinforced polymer composites that would save existing wood and petroleum resources. With some brief description of rice plants and their cultivation, harvesting and milling, this chapter discusses methods of testing the properties of rice straw and rice husk fibers, fiber surface treatments and the use of coupling agents for the integration of fibers into a polymer matrix, the processing of thermoset and thermoplastic composites reinforced by rice straw and rice husk fibers, and the physical and mechanical properties of such composites. Differences in properties between rice straw composites and rice husk composites respectively are described. It is also noted that much research on coupling agents remains to be done.