Rice Husk with PLA: 3D Filament Making and Additive Manufacturing of Samples for Potential Structural Applications

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has garnered significant attention as a versatile method for fabricating green and complex composite materials. This study delves into the fabrication of polymer composites by employing polylactic acid (PLA) in conjunction with rice husk as a reinforcing filler. The filaments were made by an extruded filament maker and then were used to make tensile and impact samples by another extrusion technology, fused deposition modeling (FDM). The structural and morphological characteristics of the composite materials were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy SEM. Results show that both the filament and samples are very reliable in producing polymer parts with this rice husk solid waste. This research contributes to increasing materials’ circularity and potentially creating a local social economy around rice production, where this waste is not much used.