No abstract

The tensile behavior of wood-plastic composite (WPC) with or without additive is studied using full-field strain measurements by 3D digital image correlation. It is shown that macroscopic values of the longitudinal strain are close to those measured by mechanical extensometer using standard mechanical tests. The modulus of elasticity provided by a Maxwell-Bingham model fitted to the experimental tensile curves is analyzed for several WPC formulations depending on the wood contents and the presence of additive. Color maps of the spatial strain distribution are commented. Moreover, the damage behavior and the degree of heterogeneity are analyzed thanks to the spatial standard deviation of the longitudinal strain field.

The wood plastic composites studied in this work are composed of high-density polyethylene matrix and Pinus pinaster wood fibers. Despite some interesting intrinsic properties, this wood plastic composite has limited mechanical properties because of the incompatibility between the polar hydrophilic fibers and the non-polar hydrophobic matrix. In this study, the effects of maleic anhydride-modified polyethylene additive, of carbon chains grafted by acetylation and of wood fiber contents on the tensile mechanical properties of the wood plastic composite were studied. Tensile tests were carried out using digital image correlation as an intrusiveness and robust method for strain measurements. Results showed first that the addition of wood fibers made the wood plastic composite stiffer but less flexible. Acetylation improved the interfacial adhesion properties: the Young modulus was increased and a lower strain at failure was reported. The coupling agent also increased the compatibility but mainly in the case where there was no grafted chain. With regard to the carbon chains, the number of grafts improved the elastic properties while their length did not appear to have any influence. Finally, a scanning electron microscope was used to characterize the post-mortem morphology of the fracture surfaces, the results of which supported the observations obtained from the tensile mechanical properties.

The focus of this study has been to fully describe the mechanical properties and behaviour of an extruded Wood Plastic Composite product. The use of plasturgy technologies for the elaboration of lignocellulose reinforced composites raises fundamental questions about the behaviour of these materials. Mechanical properties of a composite depend generally on fibre content, fibre/matrix interface link or added coupling agents. Processes play an important role on the reinforcement distribution in the matrix. The main purpose of this paper is to describe mechanical behaviour of WPC composites which are manufactured using an extrusion process. So, complete set of experiments has been realised: tensile, compressive, bending and shear tests. Longitudinal direction refers to extrusion process directional flow and transverse direction specimens have been tested. Mechanical performances of Wood Plastic Composites depend also on the link of fibre/matrix interface, fracture surface has been analysed using an optical microscope.