Effects of pretreatment on the soil aging behavior of rice husk fibers/polyvinyl chloride composites

The application of rice husk fibers (RHFs) to reinforce wood plastic composites has received appreciable attention. However, good interfacial adhesion is important for actual applications. Pretreatment methods can reduce the hydroxyl groups in plant fibers in order for them to bond with the plastic matrix. In this research, RHFs were pretreated by four methods: hydrothermal treatment (HT), microwave treatment (MT), alkali treatment (AT), and benzoylation treatment (BT). The effects of the four pretreatment methods on aging behavior of RHFs/polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites was studied with simulated soil-accelerated aging conditions. Accelerated-soil aging caused the physical and mechanical properties of the composites to deteriorate. The ultimate performance of the composites was improved by the pretreated RHFs. The effectiveness ranking of the pretreatment methods was: benzoylation-treated RHFs reinforced PVC (BRRP) > alkali-treated RHFs reinforced PVC (ARRP) > hydrothermal-treated RHFs reinforced PVC (HRRP) > microwave-treated RHFs reinforced PVC (MRRP) > untreated RHFs reinforced PVC (URRP).