The need to have composite materials that are renewable has lead to materials scientists researching on natural fibres. To minimize environmental pollution research into rice husk has been on for a period of time now. In this research cashew nut resin reinforced rice husk composite was fabricated at different particle sizes and different filler loading. The present study reveals that both filler loading and particle size can affect the tensile strength, young modulus, strain at failure, flexural strength, and impact strength. As the % filler content increases all particle sizes (400µm, 600µm and 800µm) shows a quadratic relationship except % elongation at failure which tends to be linear at 400µm. As particle size increases all % filler content shows quadratic relationship which tends to be linear. As particle sizes increases impact strength for 10 and 30% shows a linear equation while 20% shows a quadratic relationship which tends to be linear. In general, RH/CNSR composite could be considered as a potential source of low cost, natural fibre for composites.

The heat treatment and corrosion of aluminum 6063 alloy was investigated. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and the corrosion of aluminum 6063 alloy using weight loss method. The samples conditions were; as-cast, solution treated, supersaturated and age hardened condition. They were soaked in a 10 molar solution of sulphuric acid and monitored with time. The corrosion rate was calculated for various immersion periods. The result shows that the corrosion rate of the alloy was due to the nature of heat treatment given to the samples. Similarly, it was also found that the corrosion rate of the Al(6063) alloy was higher in the as-cast sample compared to the heat treated alloy. The passivation on the heat treated Al(6063) alloy was a little more stable therefore reducing the corrosion rate after 35 days of immersion for the aged hardened samples.

There has been increased interest in development of composite materials with relevant mechanical and chemical properties for use in industrial and domestic applications. Not much has been done in the area of their response to the practical environment that their applications are found. In this present study the pest and chemical resistance of the Nigerian long bamboo fibre and reinforced composite on exposure to practical environment with particular respect to the soil was investigated. Natural fibre has emerged as a renewable and cheaper substitute to synthetic materials such as glass, carbon and aramid, which are used as reinforcements. The long bamboo fibre was extracted using maceration method. The fabrication of the composite was carried out using Bisphenol-A-diglycidyl ether (BADGE) as the matrix and the long bamboo fibre as reinforcement. Tests were carried out to determine the effect of environment on degradation of the composite and the long bamboo fiber. The composite showed significant resistance to pest infestation or attack while the long bamboo fiber showed susceptibility to the soil and its moisture condition thereby decomposing completely after a period of time. Therefore the material developed can be used in aquatic craft applications with strong dependence on its mechanical properties.

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Response surface methodology (RSM) is usually applied together with a factorial design to reduce the cost of experimentation and is especially useful when there are more potential factors than money to study a response. It was designed as a tool to have a lot of (partial) answers with as few experiments as possible; to detect factors that influence a response, and whether they interact, as well as finding an optimum treatment within a specific setup. On the other hand, the Taguchi method is a statistical method, also called robust design method, to improve the quality of manufactured goods, and more recently also applied to engineering. This paper presents an extensive literature review on the concept of the RSM and Taguchi methods in solvent extraction, engineering optimization and several machining process parameters.