Environmentally sound materials from rice straw for elevator decoration

Abstract

The main goal of this work was to use rice straw (WS) in the production of environmentally sound materials using corn based adhesives (CA). Treatments of WS with NaOH and hot-water were undertaken to evaluate the effect of such treatments on the performance of produced materials. The influence of material density, starch content and varieties of starch (cornstarch, cassava starch, potato starch) on properties of materials was also investigated. Results showed that cornstarch based materials had higher flexural properties. Materials made from hot-water treated straw and cornstarch had better interface and higher flexural properties, and flexural strength and flexural elastic modulus reached peak values at starch content of 10% and material density of 0.7 g/cm3. Materials made from non-treated straw and cornstarch had lower moisture absorption. Moisture absorption was increasing with starch content increasing and density decreasing. The materials developed from this work may have potential application for ceiling panels and bulletin boards.