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The influence of accelerated weathering, xenon-arc light and freeze-thaw cycling on wood plastic composites extruded from a recycled plastic was studied. The results showed that, in general, weathering had a stronger impact on samples made from plastic waste compared to a sample made from virgin material. After weathering, the mechanical properties, tensile and flexural, were reduced by 2–30%, depending on the plastic source. Wettability of the samples was shown to play a significant role in their stability. Chemical analysis with infrared spectroscopy and surface observation with a scan electron microscope confirmed the mechanical test results. Incorporation of carbon black retained the properties during weathering, reducing the wettability of the sample, diminishing the change of mechanical properties, and improving color stability.

This paper studies the recyclability of construction and household plastic waste collected from local landfills. Samples were processed from mixed plastic waste by injection moulding. In addition, blends of pure plastics, polypropylene and polyethylene were processed as a reference set. Reference samples with known plastic ratio were used as the calibration set for quantitative analysis of plastic fractions in recycled blends. The samples were tested for the tensile properties; scanning electron microscope-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis of the blend surfaces and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was used for the quantification of plastics contents.

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Dimensional instability, more particularly its component hygroexpansivity, may cause problems in process or end-use situations in which paper or board is in contact with water or subject to changes in ambient relative humidity. Misregistration in printing, curl during copying and calender wrinkles are examples of such defects. In this paper, the in-plane hygroexpansivity of oriented laboratory sheets with different pulps and dried both freely and under restraint is studied. A linear relationship between the drying shrinkage and hygroexpansion coefficient of freely dried laboratory sheets having different fiber orientation anisotropies, was observed. Regardless of both the measurement direction (MD or CD) and the drying options (freely or restraint) all hygroexpansion coefficient values of each pulp type fell quite well on one single power curve as a function of the elastic modulus. Fiber orientation is considered via two different approaches: using fiber orientation anisotropy and using directional variable named as anisotropy index. When the anisotropy index is used, the MD and CD hygroexpansivity or the MD and CD drying shrinkage can be fit on a single curve, while the freely dried and restraint-dried sheets evidently need two different fitting curves. Between the hygroexpansion coefficient and the anisotropy index, a simple power law relationship, with two fitting parameters depending on pulp and drying restraints, is introduced.