There is a need to understand the effect of wood particle size, as it affects the characteristics of wood-based composites. This study considers the effect of wood particle size relative to the dynamic behavior of wood composites. The compression Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) was introduced to execute dynamic compression testing at the strain rate of 650 s , whereas a conventional universal testing machine (UTM) was used to perform static compression testing at the strain rate of 0.1 s , and 0.001 s -1 for four different particle sizes (63 µm, 125 µm, 250 µm, and 500 µm). The results showed that mechanical properties of composites were positively affected by the particle sizes, where the smallest particle size gave the highest values compared to the others. Moreover, the particle size also affected the rate sensitivity and the thermal activation volume of sawdust/HDPE, where smaller particles resulted in lower rate sensitivity. For the post-damage analysis, the applied strain rates influenced deformation behavior differently for all particle sizes of the specimens. In a fractographic analysis under dynamic loading, the composites with large particles experienced severe catastrophic deformation and damages compared to the smaller particles.

In this study, the alkali treatment of sawdust using different concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is performed. The purpose of this treatment is to improve the filler-matrix compatibility, thus, enhance the properties of tested specimens under various strain rate condition. The outcome shows the alkali treated sawdust did improve its surface roughness through reduction of sawdust diameter. With this increasing of surface roughness, it will enhance the compatibility between sawdust filler and HDPE matrix. For comparison purpose, the treated and untreated sawdust filler were reinforce in High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) matrix and have been test under static and dynamic loading using Universal Testing Machine (UTM) and Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus. The results indicate that the stiffness and compression strength properties were improved on treated sawdust composites for both static and dynamic loading compare to untreated sawdust composites.

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This article is concerned with the static and dynamic mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced with sawdust (SD) at a strain rate of up to 10 3 s 21 . In this study, the static and dynamic properties of HDPE/SD composites with different filler loadings of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 wt% SD were deliberated at different levels of strain rates (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 650, 900, and 1100 s 21 ) using a conventional universal testing machine and the split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus. The results showed that the stress-strain curves, yield behavior, stiffness, and strength properties of the HDPE/SD composites were strongly affected by both the strain rate and the filler loadings. Furthermore, the rate sensitivityof the HDPE/SD composites showed a great dependency on the applied strain rate, increasing as the strain rate increased. However, the thermal activation values showed a contrary trend. Meanwhile, for the postdamage analysis, the results showed that the applied strain rates influenced the deformation behavior of the tested HDPE/ SD composites. Moreover, for the fractographic analysis at dynamic loading, the composites showed that all the specimens underwent a severe catastrophic deformation.

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