Development of optimally reinforced glass/bamboo fiber and rice husk/bagasse filler Agrostone composite panels for interior panel applications

Abstract

Agrostone panels, popularly used for interior walls in construction, are usually made from sustainable agricultural waste such as bagasse as filler and glass fiber as reinforcement in a binder of pumice, MgO, and MgCl2 solutions. The present work has gone ahead of one step by adding rice husk and bamboo fiber, which are abundantly available in Ethiopia, in addition to bagasse and glass fiber. It is aimed to investigate the effect of rice husk and bamboo fiber additives. Initial optimized parameters are obtained for two variables in three levels from the central composite design (CCD), and the samples are prepared for the design of experiments. Regression analysis and ANOVA are conducted using the experimental data. The data from ANOVA is fed to response surface methodology (RSM) to obtain the final optimized proportions of reinforcement fibers and fillers for the highest mechanical properties without changing the proportions of matrix materials. Using the proportions from RSM, the specimens are prepared for the final evaluation of mechanical properties. Weight percentages of bamboo fibers (0, 1.1, and 2.2) and rice husk (0, 3.515, and 7.03) are given by RSM. The optimization process in CCD consists of three levels for two variables in terms of weight percentage. The results show that 3.091 and 1.358 wt.% of rice husk and bamboo fiber, respectively, gave the highest tensile, compressive, flexural, and impact strength values of 64.92 MPa, 75.534 MPa, 65.168 MPa, and 63.485 J, respectively. The corresponding comparable values from the experiment are 65.02, 74.73, 73.42, and 63.95 MPa, respectively.