A Comparative study of the physical and mechanical properties of Wood plastic composites made from different lignocellulosic materials and high density polyethylene

Mehdinia, Meysam; Ziaei, Saeed; Enayati, Ali Akbar

A Comparative study of the physical and mechanical properties of Wood plastic composites made from different lignocellulosic materials and high density polyethylene

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

In this paper, impacts of 3 various lignocellulosic materials (as filler) and their mixture ratios with high density polyethylene (HDPE) on the physical and mechanical properties of WPC have been investigated and compared. MDF dust, soya stalk flour and poplar flour particles, with mixture ratios of 40, 50 and 60% (by weight) and HDPE were mixed using corotating twin-screw extruder. Maleic anhydrate polyethylene (MAPE) was used as coupling agent with mixture ration of 3%. Testing samples comprising, fractural, tensile and impact samples, were prepared by injection molding, and then were tested with regard to the ASTM standards.
Results showed that the increment of filler percentage in 40, 50 and 60 wt.% order could improve tensile and flexural strength, water uptake and thickness swelling, significantly while impact absorbing energy was on the wane. It was found that the samples made from MDF dust, had superior physical and mechanical properties comparing two other fillers. Meanwhile, composites made with soya stalk flour showed the weak physical and mechanical properties.

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