Investigation of rheological and mechanical properties of wood flour reinforced polypropylene

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the rheological and mechanical properties of polypropylene when reinforced by wood flour. In the study, wood flour (WF) was added as filling material to polypropylene (PP), and its effects were investigated. The grain size of the wood flour was 300 mm. Wood flour was mixed into polypropylene material at different rates of weight. Viscosity changes of the polypropylene at various temperatures and pressure values of the concentration rates were documented. As a result, viscosity increases as the amount of wood flour filling is increased; yet as temperature, pressure and shear rate are increased, viscosity decreases. The study also focuses on the changes in its mechanical properties of polypropylene reinforced with wood flour. The tensile strength of reinforced polypropylene at varying percentages (wt. 5 %, wt. 10 % and wt. 15 %) was observed to decrease by 11 %, 16 % and 21 %, respectively, compared to that of non-reinforced polypropylene. Additionally, impact tests showed that the highest energy absorption was in 10 % wood flour reinforced polypropylene.

Rheological Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites by 3D Numerical Simulations: Different Components

“…Mazzanti et al [14] also investigated the influence of temperature and filler concentration on the rheology of wood fiber filled poly(lactic acid) to validate the program for predicting the complex viscosity of the composites at any temperature and filler amount. Altug et al [15] investigated the rheological and mechanical properties of poly-propylene reinforced with wood fiber. Studies have shown that the flow property reduces depending on the reinforcement wood fiber content added to the reinforced plastics.…”

“…Studies have shown that the flow property reduces depending on the reinforcement wood fiber content added to the reinforced plastics. The amount of wood fiber added is an important factor affecting the rheological properties of WPCs [7,15,16]. The rheological phenomenon caused by high fiber contents, such as a high viscosity, and strong shear thinning behavior, must be understood to properly formulate WPCs.…”