Rice Hulls, A Unique Material for the Manufacture of Extruded Biocomposites

摘要

Rice hulls are a waste material that is well known in all rice-growing countries. This paper describes the Husk-I-Bond process, a recently patented development that uses rice hulls for the manufacture of hollow-core load-bearing building panels. The panels, which have potential for use in earthquake or cyclone-prone areas, have excellent load-bearing capability, sound absorption and fire resistance. For this product to be useful as a building material its strength attributes must be consistent. To achieve this, fibres can be added as reinforcement. Sisal fibre confers appropriate tensile strength characteristics at a suitable price. It can also increase the strength of compressive dunnage blocks made of rice hull composite.