Utilizing agricultural wastes such as rice husks to prepare some polymeric nanocomposites for industrial application

Abstract

Nanosized rice husk powder (nRHP) was successfully obtained from microsized one by using high ball mill energy where its' formation in nano-scale was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Afterward, the obtained nRHP was incorporated into EPDM matrix in the presence and absence of the chemical modifications to prepare modified and unmodified nRHP - EPDM nanocomposites, respectively. Three different types of chemical modifiers were used to improve the dispersion of nRHP into EPDM matrix. These modifiers included usage of maleated EPDM whether as a coupling agent (M-EP) to link between nRHP and EPDM matrix or as a grafting agent to be tethered onto nRHP surface by using melt method; usage of dry bonding agent from hydrated silica, resorcinol and hexamethylene tetramine (HRH system); and usage of polyols such as glycerol, polyethylene glycol 400 and tween 20 that act as filler-dispersants. The M-EP coupling agent was prepared by using the melt grafting process and subsequently, the FTIR was used to confirm its chemical structure. Furthermore, the melt grafting approach was used to