Papers by Keyword: Wood Plastic Composite (WPC)

Abstract: Construction sector has consumed an important percentage of natural resources and generated much of the waste discharged into the environment in the last decades. This is the reason why the social consciousness has strongly grown towards sustainable development. Concepts such as recycle, reuse, reduce and energy saving are gaining importance in obtaining products under a clearly defined objective of a sustainable development. The revaluation of agroforestry waste has established itself as a solution to the problems associated with these wastes and, increasingly, is being incorporated into the manufacture of new materials. The Wood Plastic Composites (WPC’s) are an important group within these new sustainable building materials. WPC’s are obtained from recycled plastics and natural fibres waste. This kind of materials reduces the consumption of resources and the amount of waste. These materials have emerged to replace natural wood in some exterior applications, where the durability of natural wood is most damaged. Natural wood, in addition to the loss of color that suffers in exterior, has other disadvantages such as anisotropy and hygroscopicity. WPC's do not have these drawbacks. In this way, the WPC’s try to imitate the appearance of natural wood, with a good durability outdoors. Because of this, there are numerous companies that develop WPC products with different plastics and natural waste, with the aim of obtaining the best appearance and durability. In this paper, the color degradation of various WPC materials when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is evaluated. An artificial aging chamber with a fluorescent UV lamp and a colorimeter have been used to quantify the color parameters. Thus, conclusions are drawn on which plastics and residues achieve a minor alteration of color, an aspect highly appreciated in outdoor applications.

Abstract: Sawdust is a waste from furnitureindustry which is mostly left in the garbage or burn for landfill in hugequantities every year. Efforts to find utilization of this material haveresulted mostly in low value. However, sawdust waste can be considered as analternative to fabricate fiber reinforced polymer composites for furniturefunction. This study was undertaken to determine the physical and mechanicalproperties of wood plastic composites, which were made under laboratoryconditions by hot pressing of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with teakwoodsawdust as filler. Seven levels of mixed flour, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70%,based on the composition by weight was added to the HDPE powder with palm oilas coupling agent. A flat pressing technology, the simplest method for capableof large dimension wood plastic panel production, was used to manufacturetesting specimens in dimensions 5.8 x 7.3 cm². Investigation of themechanical property of the composites material, according to the Americansociety for testing and materials (ASTM) method, was done by impact strengthtester. The measurement results were found that impact strength was decreased uponthe increasing of the sawdust up to 30 % mixing then gradually increased. However,by increasing mixed flour content, water resistance of the panels wasnegatively influenced. The best appearance of composites material in comparisonwith the natural woods was ~30% sawdust powder mixing. The woodplastic panels were utilized for construction of a Thai spirithouse as an outdoor decoration.

Abstract: Palm frond waste is a lignoselulose material that is abundant availability in Indonesia. The material has potential to be used as raw material for wood plastic composite material (WPC). The purpose of this reseach was to study the effect of levels of treated palm frond (TPF) and maleated polypropylene (MAPP) compatibilizer to the properties and morphology of the palm frond-based WPC. As thermoplastic component was used polypropylene (PP). Extractable components from palm fronds removed with water washing and drying. The WPC samples were prepared by mixing PP, TPF, MAPP and paraffin in the internal mixer at temperature of 170°C and rotor speed of 80 rpm for 15 minutes. The mass ratio of PP/TPF was varied with 50/50, 60/40 and 70/30 w/w. The MAPP levels was varied with 0%, 4% and 5% w/w. Paraffin was used as a palsticizer with a level of 2% w/w. The testing included tensile and flexural properties by using universal testing machine (UTM) according to ASTM D-678 and ASTM D-790 standards, respectively. Other testing also conducted for morphology by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and water adsorption test. The result indicate that the best properties of the WPC sample obtained at PP/TPF mass ratio of 60/40 w/w and MAPP level of 5% w/w, with tensile strength of 156 kgf/cm² and flexural strength of 598 kgf/cm² with water adsorption of 1.4% w/w.

Abstract: This research was focused on the study of the synthesis process, and the physical and mechanical properties, of the composite material prepared from Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and natural fiber extracted from reed, scientific namely Cyperus corymbosus Rotth, leading to the development of a new type of low cost material for the furniture function. Reed is chosen to be a source of natural fiber due to its ease of finding and ease of growth along water reservoir which can provide a cheap material for composite production. In the study, the samples were divided into four groups based on the addition of reed powder loading, ranged from a weight ratio of 0%, 20, 40 to 50%, respectively. The composite materials were pre-mixed, using white oil as coupling agent, by the single screw extruder, and the wood plastic was produced by compression molding method. The flat plate panels were tested by several standard techniques, including impact testing, bending testing and tensile testing. Morphology of the fracture surfaces and the dispersion of filler particles were observed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The testing measurement revealed the decreasing of impact strength, tensile strength and flexural strength in all WPCs in comparison with pure PVC. This negative effect may be ascribed to the poor compatibility between the fibers and polymer matrix.

Abstract: This study is to measure the effect of various rice husks particle size on density, tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break of PPVC composite. Rice husk was grind before being sieved to particle sizes of 60 μm, 60 μm < particle size 80 μm, and 80 μm < particle size 100μm. Each size was compounded with PPVC at same filler loading which is 20 % rice husk and being pressed using hot press machine. Tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break increased as particle size increases. The highest value for tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break are 21.48 MPa, 1344.88 MPa and 2.29 % respectively. However, it is different for density result which decreased as particle size increases. The results obtained from the study shows that the bigger the size of the rice husks, the better the composite tensile properties.

Abstract: The effects of plastic grades and composition contents on creep behavior of extruded composites from polypropylene and rubberwood flour were investigated. Virgin polypropylene gave lower creep strain than recycled polypropylene, both in composites and as unfilled plastic. An increase of rubberwood flour content reduced the creep deformation of the composites, both virgin and recycled plastics. Maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene as a coupling, 5 wt% addition increased the creep strain of the composite materials. Likewise, an addition of 1 wt% ultraviolet (UV) stabilizer content significantly enhanced the creep deformation. The results recommend that the amount of UV stabilizer should be as small as possible to limit its negative effects. Four-element Burger model offered a good fitting on the creep behavior of each composite formulation.

Abstract: Mixture experimental design was applied to determine the optimal mixture for composites between rubberwood flour (RWF) and recycled polypropylene (rPP). Experiments were conducted based on a D-optimal mixture design and analyzed using response surface methodology. Analysis of variance revealed that compositions including rPP, RWF, maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP), and ultraviolet (UV) stabilizer significantly affected hardness property. Contour plots of the response surface demonstrated that an increase of RWF content steadily enhanced hardness value, but hardness property sharply decreased with an increase of rPP loading. An addition of the UV stabilizer in the composites showed a slight decrease of the hardness value. This result recommends that amount of UV stabilizer used should be minimized. With this experimental design, the optimal formulation of rPP/RWF composites found was 50.0 wt% rPP, 45.0 wt% RWF, 3.9 wt% MAPP, 0.1 wt% UV stabilizer, and 1.0 wt% Lubricant.

Abstract: Wood flour/high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites were prepared by an internal mixer and a compression molding, respectively. The HDPE composites were mixed with four types of wood flour at various contents with and without coupling agent. Polyethylene grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA) was used as a coupling agent. The effects of type (hardwood and softwood), content (0, 30, 60, 80 wt%), and particle size (large and small) of wood flour on the mechanical properties, physical properties, and morphological properties of wood flour/HDPE composites were investigated. The results showed that the large particle size of wood flour provided better mechanical properties than the small particle size. The use of hardwood as a filler in HDPE resulted in the HDPE composites with higher flexural strength and lower water absorption than softwood. The flexural modulus of the wood flour composites was increased with filler loading when PE-g-MA was used as a coupling agent.

Abstract: ncreasing environmental awareness has led to an increase in the usage of wood plastic composites in many countries. The primary objective of this research was the decrease in the density of wood particle-polypropylene composites using chemical blowing agents while retaining their mechanical properties. Different amounts of Azodicarbonamide (0%, 1% and 2% by weight) were mixed with four blends consisting of wood particles (15%, 25%, 35% and 45% by weight), Epolene (2% by weight) and polypropylene and compounded in an extruder. The resulting extrudates were granulated, injection-moulded into specimens and tested for density, tensile strength and impact strength. The secondary objective of this research was the increase in the electrical conductivity of wood particle-polypropylene composites using conducting agents for novel end usages. Different amounts of carbon black (1%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 10% by weight) were mixed with a blend consisting of wood particles (45% by weight), epolene (2% by weight) and polypropylene and compounded in an extruder. The resulting extrudates were granulated, compression-moulded into plates, machined into specimens and tested for electrical conductivity and tensile strength.

Abstract: Mechanical properties of wood plastic composite, prepared from acrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile (ASA) and bagasse, were investigated. In this study, 10 to 50 phr of bagasse were used in order to obtain the wood plastic composite with superior mechanical properties. The wood plastic composites in the study were prepared by melt-blending technique. All materials were mixed by using a two-roll-mill, shaped into sheets by a compression molding machine and the specimens were cut with a cutting machine. Youngs modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, impact strength and hardness of the wood plastic composites were investigated and found to improve with increasing bagasse content. However, some composite properties, i.e., impact strength, was decreased by adding the bagasse and then become steady when the amount of bagasse added was more than 30 phr. It was concluded that wood plastic composites with the desirable mechanical properties can be formulated using ASA as the matrix polymer and 50 phr of bagasse.