Optimisation of material compositions for flammability characteristics in rice husk/polyethylene composites

Abstract

A parametric study on the flammability characteristics of rice husk-reinforced polyethylene composites with various material compositions was conducted to find the ''best'' composites' formulation for fire retardancy. Composites were manufactured using rice husk, maleated anhydride polyethylene and linear medium density polyethylene. The blends for manufacturing of composites were selected using mixture design approach. The individual effects of each constituent material on the fire performance of composites by cone calorimeter were studied using trace and contour plots for the various thermal and flammability properties. Regression coefficients were also estimated for each measured response. The cone calorimetry results show that the addition of rice husk improved fire retardancy of composites. The addition of maleated anhydride polyethylene did not influence the flammability properties much, except for mass loss rate and specific extinction area. The optimum mixture of rice husk, maleated anhydride polyethylene and linear medium density polyethylene for overall ''best'' flammability properties of the composites was also determined by multiple response optimisation using the regression models in Design Expert software. The optimum mixture for overall ''best'' fire retardant properties was found to be 50 wt% of rice husk, 5.6 wt% of maleated anhydride polyethylene and 44.4 wt% of linear medium density polyethylene. The flammability properties measured from composites manufactured with this formulation closely matched the values predicted by the model.

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“…MAPE as a binding agent that is known to improve fiber-matrix adhesion between RH and rHDPE and enhanced structural stability of the composite does not show positive enhancement on flame retardancy, as composite displays increased flammability as the amount of binding agent increases. The same was observed on the study of RH polyethylene composite with MAPE as a binding agent (Bilal et al 2014). However, the addition of the fire retardant BX+BA shows significant improvement on the flammability of the composite even with of the integration of binding agent.…”

“…Studies show improved flame retardance with the increasing content of RH (Zhao et al 2009, Bilal et al 2014. The enhancement was due to the formation of a silica ash layer as a result of the combustion of RH that shields the remaining part of the composite for heat and oxygen leading to slow spread of flame of the composite (Zhao et al 2009, Arora et al 2012, Bilal et al 2014. MAPE, as the binding agent, did not play a significant role in the heat release rate of the composite.…”

“…March 2022 45 Flammability properties of RH plastic composite without fire retardant are closely related to RH loading. Studies show improved flame retardance with the increasing content of RH (Zhao et al 2009, Bilal et al 2014. The enhancement was due to the formation of a silica ash layer as a result of the combustion of RH that shields the remaining part of the composite for heat and oxygen leading to slow spread of flame of the composite (Zhao et al 2009, Arora et al 2012, Bilal et al 2014.…”

“…Data show the average burning rate of specimens per sample. Samples with RH (sample 2) have a 6.03% burning rate reduction compared to the pure rHDPE material (sample 1) that could be attributed to the silica layer created during the combustion of RH that acts as a thermal barrier and heat sink between the fire and the sublayer of the composite (Bilal et al 2014). The addition of Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyethylene as a binding agent to the composite increases the burning rate by about 13% with 3 wt% on sample 3 and 32% with 5 wt% on sample 7 of MAPE compared to rHDPE with RH (sample 2).…”

The cubic regression model of thermal estimation in the flammability test of the fibrous compound used in bus bodies

“…This is consistent with what has been mentioned in similar studies that indicate the importance of analyzing parallel phenomena such as physicists and chemists to better understand the behavior of these materials in the face of fire. [23][24][25]. On the other hand, also the importance of analyzing other materials such as textiles, thermoplastics that are also used in the manufacture of buses and automobiles.…”