Mechanical and morphological properties of wood plastic composites based on municipal plastic waste

Abstract

Production and characterization of wood plastic composites (WPC) from the light fraction of municipal plastic wastes (post-consumer) and wood processing residues (sawdust) were investigated. Composition analysis revealed the presence of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as the two main components of the matrix. In order to improve compatibility and adhesion between all the phases, an ethylene-octene copolymer was used to compatibilize the polymer phases and was also acting as an impact modifier, while the addition of maleated polyethylene and maleated polypropylene (MAPP) were acting as coupling agents between the polymer matrix and the wood flour. The combined effect of all the components was found to produce composites with interesting morphological (dispersion and adhesion) and mechanical properties (tension, torsion, flexion, and impact) after optimization of the additive package (blend of coupling agents). POLYM. COMPOS., 34:487-493, 2013. ª

Influence of Repeated Injection Molding Processing on Some Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Wood Plastic Composites

“…Considering the short service life of most plastics, especially in packaging applications, re-using is an option to extend their life cycle. Re-using consumes less energy than other recycling techniques, which makes it a more preferable approach (Martins and De Paoli 2000;Kazemi et al 2007;Jakubowicz and Enebro 2012;Kazemi 2013).…”

“…Plastics are used in a number of applications such as coating, wiring, packaging, and in the automotive and construction industries (Kazemi 2013). Also, plastics usually have low mechanical properties, modulus, and strength compared with other materials.…”

Optimizing the formulation of polypropylene and rubberwood flour composites for moisture resistance by mixture design

“…3 Of all these plastic types, PE and PP significantly contribute to landfills and have similarities in their structure and properties. 4 However, when PE (virgin or recycled) was blended with sawdust, it had lower stiffness and strength than similar composites with PP (virgin or recycled). 5 Due to the availability of plastic waste and increased environmental awareness, there have been many studies on natural fiberreinforced recycled thermoplastics.…”

“…They found that chemical treatment of fiber significantly improves the impermeability to helium gas and reduces the amount of water absorption. Kazemi et al 4 produced composites from wood sawdust and blends of postconsumer PE and PP. The wood flour in composites increased tensile, flexural, and torsion moduli in comparison to the recycled plastic blends.…”

“…Matuana and Mengeloglu 23 used a four-factor central composite design to develop a response surface model and to study the foamability of rigid PVC/wood-flour composites. Stark and Matuana 24 applied a 2 4 factorial design to determine the effects of two hindered amine light stabilizers, a colorant and an ultraviolet (UV) absorber, and their interactions on the photostabilization of wood flour/high-density polyethylene composites. However, the fractions of components in a mixture cannot be changed independently since they must add up to 100%, and the methods for mixture designs have been created with this in mind.…”