The role of milling time on the morphological and mechanical properties of wood flour and their polypropylene composites

Abstract

Rendering unique properties by combining materials are stepping stones to innovate novel material with excellent properties. Although the combination technology has been used to obtain characteristic properties, recent new technologies develop materials with both lower density and higher strength, which are not attainable for single bulk materials. The light weight, easy availability, and biodegradability of natural fibers make them as one of the most acceptable materials for manufacturing various products. Most of the commodity plastics can be reinforced with wood flour which is one of the most abundantly available resources and can impart better properties to the composite materials. To support the industry while considering the product reliability and durability, the effect of more detailed processing factors is in demand. Thus, the present study focuses on clarifying the effects of particle size, morphology, diffraction pattern, particle size distribution of the wood flour on the final properties of the wood flour-based composites. Multiple factors like morphological, structural, interfacial interactions, and crystallinity index shows 1 h milled wood fluor to be the appropriate time to mill the wood flour particles. There is an optimal milling time, which make smaller wood flours without agglomerates, resulting in better property enhancement.