COMPOSITE MATERIAL FOR SOIL MULCHING AND METHOD FOR ITS PRODUCTION Russian patent published in 2024 - IPC C09K17/52 C08L23/06 

FIELD: agriculture.

SUBSTANCE: inventions relate to the field of biodegradable composite materials, in particular to the development of composite materials used in the agricultural industry for surface mulching, protection of cultivated plants from germination of weeds, retention of moisture in soil, protection of plant roots from ultraviolet radiation with further biodegradation after using mulching composite agrofibre. Composite material for soil mulching includes a matrix – low-pressure polyethylene and a filler in form of modified sunflower husks, with the following ratio of components, wt.%: low-pressure polyethylene – 50-55; modified sunflower husks – 45-50. Method comprises loading into extruder chamber with heating to 130 °C, material mixing with screws and subsequent film extrusion. Sunflower husks are modified by drying sunflower husks powder in a drying oven at temperature of 80 °C for at least 60 minutes, sieving through a sieve with mesh size of 0.63 mm, soaking in 4% NaOH solution at temperature of 30 °C and ultrasonic treatment for 10 minutes, separation of the suspension in a centrifuge with further holding in a drying cabinet at temperature of 110 °C for 3 hours. Then, modified sunflower husks 45-50 wt.% and low-pressure polyethylene 50-55 wt.% are loaded into the cryogenic grinding chamber and the components are mixed in a liquid nitrogen medium at a temperature of –170 °C for 20 minutes, after which the homogenised mixture is loaded into the extruder chamber with subsequent heating to 130 °C and mixing by screws of material and subsequent extrusion of film with thickness of 200±0.20 mcm.

EFFECT: inventions provide mulching of soil surface, protection of cultivated plants from germination of weeds, retention of moisture in soil, protection of plant roots from ultraviolet radiation with further biodegradation after use of composite agrofibre.

2 cl, 3 tbl, 1 ex