The vast majority of recycled wood in Europe is used for particleboards, so there is a need to diversify the use of reclaimed wood for new materials. Wood plastic composites (WPC) offers an interesting route to create formaldehyde-free materials out of a variety of natural fibers. Thus, thermoplastic WPCs out of recycled wood fiber could on replace formaldehyde emitting wooden boards or plastic components in furniture-, building- and construction industries. Thereby, decreasing the amounts of plastics and formaldehyde-adhesives.
In conventional WPCs, 50wt% of wood-fibre or -flour loading is used together with a polymer matrix, typically is polypropylene (PP). The addition of a compatibilizer, such as maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP), can increase the adhesion between the wooden fillers and the polymer matrix, and hence the mechanical properties of the composite. To further reduce the use of plastic, new processes are being developed to increase the fibre loading. The use of thermo-kinetic mixers can produce composites with around 90wt% fillers, made from, e.g., kenaf fibres [Sanadi and Caulfield, 2008] or other biofibers.
In this study, different compositions of highly filled WPCs are tested for their mechanical performance. For this, recycled and fiberized wood from Danish construction sites was used. The matrix consisted of MAPP and recycled PP. An almost completely recycled thermoplastic composite could be produced.
Keywords: WPC, recycled wood, recycled polypropylene, highly filled, thermoplastics
Authors
Julian Christ
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
Emil Engelund Thybring
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
Anand Ramesh Sanadi
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
Login to download the PDF