Advancing the technology development for better quality wood plastic composites: process ability study
Date
2009-03-01
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Abstract
Wood Plastic Composites (WPC) have advantages over natural wood such as improved
stiffness, recyclability, and waste minimization. However, issues such as the difficulty of
processing WPC with conventional methods, volatile emission from the wood and the
composites’ lack of strength must be addressed. A system for continuous extrusion of
rectangular profiles of WPC was developed and some critical processing strategies were
identified. The use of a lubricant and a calibrator also improved the profile extrusion of
WPC. In this work, glass was also added to improve WPC’s mechanical strength.
Generally, a glass content of 2.5% appears to improve the properties but further addition
does not have a significant effect. Foaming of WPC, which can enhance their properties,
was investigated through studying the effect of heating time and temperature on void
fraction and cell density.
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Keywords
composites, green materials, wood plastic composites, extrusion, coupling agent, post consumer HDPE, profile extrusion, batch foaming, tensile strength, flexural strength