Boiling Temperature and Particle Size Effect on the Tensile Strength of Rice Straw-Based Biomaterials

Abstract

The particle size of the rice straw and boiling duration play an essential role in the applicability of this material. They affect the rice straw’s mechanical properties, which is one of the critical parameters in bio-based material development. In order to have a clear insight into the effect, rice straw particle materials form without a hot press machine route to avoid bias due to the material response to the pressure and heat transfer effect. The rice straw particle incorporates corn starch as a bio-adhesive with an equal composition ratio. It turns out that finer particle sizes (mesh 60 and 40) achieve higher tensile strength compared to mesh 18 particles. The optimum boiling duration is two hours. Longer boiling times reduce the mechanical properties of rice straw particle-based materials.