Many materials are exposed to degrading outdoor conditions during their use phase as products in construction, automotive, packaging, textiles, consumer goods and also when they are managed irresponsibly as waste after useful life. The ultraviolet portion of the solar radiation can initiate photodegradation processes, causing irreversible chemical, physical, and mechanical changes. This process is significantly accelerated in the presence of water. Water stimulates hydrolysis reactions, removes degradation products, and causes internal stress by penetrating the material. Plastic products are susceptible to this type of damage, which results in cracking, chalking, and eventually, surface erosion (Choi et al., 2011). Similar responses have been observed also for plastic-containing materials such as wood plastic composites (WPCs), which are made from wood residues and plastic (Kuka et al., 2022). The eroded particles can vary in size, but most of them are very small and far below the upper limits of microplastics (MPs) (Vasiljevs et al., 2024). As the market for WPCs and other similar materials grows, these materials will become more prevalent in our lives, potentially contributing to MPs pollution and its negative consequences and challenges (Lamichhane et al., 2023). The objective of the study was to collect, quantify, and compare the eroded material formed during weathering (Figure 1) from WPCs and evaluate the effect of composition.
Keywords: wood plastic composites, microplastics, weathering, surface degradation
Authors
Edgars Kuka
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Dace Cirule
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Ingeborga Andersone
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Lotars O. Vasiljevs
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Roze Zabarovska
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Eva Gulevska
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Errj Sansonetti
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Bruno Andersons
Laboratory of Wood Degradation and Protection, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
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