Title: Water absorption and chemical resistance properties of untreated and alkali treated rice husk reinforced epoxy composites

Authors: Anu Gupta; Priyanka Kataria

Addresses: Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar – 125001, Haryana, India ' Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar – 125001, Haryana, India

Abstract: This paper presents a study on the development of natural fibre reinforced composites using rice husk as reinforcement and epoxy as resin. Rice husk fibre was treated with 5% NaOH to improve the properties of composites. Five different sets of composites were fabricated with different wt% of fibre loading (Alkali treated rice husk and Untreated rice husk) using hand layup technique. Water absorption behaviour was also studied for all composite samples and exhibited characteristics indicating fickian diffusion behaviour. Chemical resistance of all composites were studied for various solvents, toluene, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride, acids like nitric acid and hydrochloric acid and the alkalis like sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, ammonium hydroxide. Alkali treated composites have shown better water absorption resistance and chemical resistance as compared to untreated composites. There was 20% decrease in water absorption and 7% increase in chemical resistance in case of alkali treated rice husk reinforced composites. Rice husk-reinforced epoxy composites show strong potential as durable materials suitable for indoors and outdoors applications.

Keywords: agricultural waste management; alkali treatment; chemical characterisation; natural fibre composites; rice husk.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2026.154484

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2026 Vol.40 No.2, pp.148 - 165

Received: 09 Feb 2025
Accepted: 16 Apr 2025
Published online: 30 Jun 2026 *

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