Effects of Lubricant Content on Extrusion Processing and Mechanical Properties of Wood Flour-High-density Polyethylene Composites

Abstract

Wood plastic composite (WPC) development has been facilitated by the economical extrusion of WPC profiles for various applications. The physical and mechanical properties of WPC products can be optimized by regulating extrusion processing conditions and material formulations. Rectangular WPC profiles were produced with varied high-density polyethylene (HDPE), wood fiber (WF), and lubricant contents under different extrusion conditions in a twin-screw extruder extrusion line. Optimal tensile and flexural properties were obtained with 50 wt% WF at 7 and 3 wt% lubricant and maleated polyethylene (MAPE) contents. The apparent shear viscosity of the WPC melts decreased gradually with increased lubricant content. Hence, for practical applications, a combination of HDPE grade, WF, lubricant, and MAPE contents can provide the benefits of lower shear viscosity while maintaining the mechanical properties and surface smoothness of WPC profiles.

The Effect of using the Flour of Kiwi (Actinidia sp.) Twigs and Refined Fibers in the Production of Polypropylene/Wood Plastic Composites

“…The independent effect of the mixture ratio (wood flour + fiber) and mesh size on the tensile strength and modulus, elongation at break, and flexural strength, as well as the interaction effect of mixture ratio (WF + F) materials and mesh size on the tensile strength and modulus, elongation at break, flexural modulus, and notched impact strength were found not to be significant at a 95% level. Generally, the physical and mechanical features of WPCs are affected by their component's features, the quality of intersection between polymer mixtures, between the polymer matrix and lignocellulosic material, as well as the process conditions (Adhikary et al 2011). Figure 2 shows that the composite's tensile modulus was 10% more than that of the polymer matrix tensile modulus, while Fig.…”

Mechanical properties: wood lumber versus plastic lumber and thermoplastic composites

“…Some wood species used to compound the thermoplastic products tested in the analysed papers are Pinus radiata (ADHIKARY; PANG; STAIGER, 2008;BEG;PICKERING, 2008), Populus deltoides (NOURBAKHSH; ASHORI, 2009), Cunninghamia lanceolate, Cryptomeria japonica, Taiwania crytomerioides (KUO et al, 2009), Pinus ponderosa, Quercus alba, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Gleditsia triacanthos (FABIYI; MCDONALD, 2010), Pinus nigra (BUYUKSARI; AYRILMIS; AKBULUT, 2012) and Populus tremuloides (YEMELE et al, 2010). Some papers, such as Adhikary et al (2011) and Leu et al (2012), used wood flour from many wood species belonging to the same genus to produce the WPCs.…”

Rheological Properties of Natural Fiber Polymer Composites

“…Adhikary, et al [11] argued that the performance of wood-plastic-composites could be optimized by adjusting the processing parameters and material formulations. An appropriate combination of HDPE, WF, lubricants, and maleic anhydride-g-polyethylene contents provided the benefits of lower shear viscosity (favorable to processing) while maintaining the mechanical properties and surface smoothness of the extruded WPC profiles.…”