• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.6 s.134
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• pp.55-62
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the application of a bio-composite made by the addition recycled fiber board flour as filler. Recycled fiber board (high density fiber board, HDF) flour was added to polyolefin polymer low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) for the preparation of bio-composite materials. The mechanical properties and processability of the recycled HDF flour filled LDPE and recycled HDF flour filled PP bio-composites were then measured and compared to those of wood flour (WF) and rice-husk flour (RHF) filled LDPE and PP bio-composites, respectively. The tensile and impact strengths of the recycled HDF flour filled LDPE and PP bio-composites had similar mechanical properties to those of the WF and RHF filled LDPE and PP bio-composites. To measure the processability, torques of the bio-composites were also measured. The torques of the HDF flour filled LDPE and PP bio-composites were lower than those of the WF and RHF filled polyolefin (PP and LDPE) bio-composites with a filler loading of 30 wt.%. This result showed definite processability, which was not related with the distribution of the particle size of the material added. The recycled fiber board flour filled bio-composites showed applicability as substitutes for the bio-composites currently used in the bio-composites industry.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.682-690
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• 2014

In order to improve the thermal stability of wood plastic composites (WPC), thermal degradation behavior of WPC in this study was investigated by the addition of wood flour and fire retardant after hybridization of wood flour and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) into polypropylene (PP) matrix. Thermal degradation behavior of all formulations was analyzed with thermogravimetric analyzer under nitrogen environment at heating rate of $10^{\circ}C/min$. As the thermal degradation temperature of wood flour is lower than that of PP, char layer formed by the wood flour decreases the speed of heat transfer to PP. In addition, the char layer increases the 2nd thermal degradation temperature and decreases the 2nd thermal degradation speed. The WPC treated with APP increases the 1st and 2nd degradation temperatures. In the case of WPC with high loading level of wood flour, the 1st thermal degradation temperature and 2nd thermal degradation rate were increased by the addition of APP, and then the amount of remnants at high temperature was increased by the increase of the APP loading level. In the case of WPC treated with APP, the amount of the remnants at high temperature was increased with the increase of wood flour content from 10 wt% to 50 wt%, indicating that char formation of the APP and wood flour occurred at the same time, resulting in high thermal stability effect by the increase of wood flour content.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2002

The main goal of this study was to analyze the effect of process additives, i.e. maleated polypropylene (MAPP), and nucleating agent on the viscoelastic properties of different types of extruded polypropylene-wood plastic composites manufactured from either PP homopolymer, high crystallinity PP or PP impact copolymer using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. And also, the esterification reaction between wood flour and maleated polypropylene, and its role in determining the mechanical properties of wood flour-polypropylene composites was investigated. The wood plastic composites were manufactured using 60% pine wood flour and 40% polypropylene on a Davis-Standard $Woodtruder^{TM}$. Dynamic mechanical thermal properties, polymer damping peaks(than ${\delta}$), storage modulus (E') and loss modulus (E") were measured using a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer. XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), also known as ESCA (Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis) study of wood flour treated with MAPP was performed to obtain information on the chemical nature of wood fiber before and after treatment. To analyze the effect of frequency on the dynamic mechanical properties of the various composites, DMA tests were performed over a temperature range of -20 to $100^{\circ}C$, at four different frequencies (1, 5, 10 and 25 Hz), and at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/min$. From these results, the activation energy of the various composite was measured using an Arrhenius relationship to investigate the effect of maleated PP and nucleating agent on the measurement of the interphase between the wood and plastic of the extruded polypropylene wood plastic composites.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.392-398
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• 2016

Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) composed of mainly wood flour and thermoplastics have attracted considerable attentions due to advantages of cost effectiveness, high durability, and microbial resistance. However, relatively poor fire resistance of WPCs from low thermal stability of wood and plastics prevents further uses. This study investigated the effect of expandable graphite (EG) and aluminium hydroxide (AH)/magnesium hydroxide (MH) on the properties of WPCs. The combined incorporation of both EG and metal hydroxide (i.e., AH or MH) into formulations leads to higher flexural modulus of filled composites compared to neat PP and WPC. In thermal properties, EG played an important role in improving thermal stability of filled composites by suppressing thermal decompositions of wood and PP. Moreover, EG showed better water absorption features. From this research, it can be said that EG and metal hydroxides have potentials as effective reinforcement, flame retardant, and moisture barrier.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.24-29
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• 2008

Polypropylene-natural fiber composites have been prepared and their rheological properties during mixing and thermal properties were investigated. Two types of natural fibers (cotton fiber and wood fiber) were compared. On increasing fiber contents, the torque values of composites were increased, where the cotton fiber exhibited higher increase in torques. The torque values of composites were higher as the MI of PP decreased. X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry results showed an increase in the crystallization temperature but a decrease of crystallinity of the PP/natural fiber composites on increasing fiber contents.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.10-21
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• 2006

Recycled polypropylene (RPP) - Wood Saw Dust (WSD) composites with and without acetylation of filler were produced at different filler loading (15%, 25%, 35% and 45% w/w) and filler size (300, 212 and $100{\mu}m$). The RPP-WSD was compounded using a Haake Rheodrive 500 twin screw compounder at $190^{\circ}C$ at 8 MPa for 30 minutes. The mechanical properties and water absorption properties of modified and unmodified WSD-PP composites were investigated. Acetylation of WSD improved the mechanical and water absorption characteristic of composites. The decrease of filler size (300 to $100{\mu}m$) of the unmodified and acetylated WSD showed increase of tensile strength and impact properties. The composites exhibited higher tensile modulus properties as the filler loading increased (15% to 45%). However tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength showed the opposite phenomenon. Water absorption increased as the mesh number and filler loading increased. With acetylation, lower moisture absorption was observed as compared to unmodified WSD. The failure mechanism from impact fracture of the filler-matrix interface with and without acetylation was analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.204-210
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• 2013

Effects of additives (lubricant and antioxidant) and melt-blending condition (temperature, time and rotor speed) on the mechanical properties of polypropylene-based wood polymer composites (WPCs) were investigated. WPCs were prepared by melt-blending followed by compression molding. To understand melt-blending procedure, torque change of the WPC melt-blend was monitored. Maleic anhydride modified PP and nanoclay were used as a compatibilizer and a reinforcing filler, respectively. UTM and izod impact tester were used to measure the mechanical properties of the WPCs and a color-difference meter was used to measure the discoloration of the WPCs according to melt-blending condition. The mechanical properties showed that the optimized melt-blending condition was $170^{\circ}C$, 15 min, and 60 rpm. The mechanical properties of the WPCs decreased with increasing lubricant and antioxidant content. The two step method, adding wood flour later separately during melt-blending, was more effective than the typical one step method for improving the mechanical properties of the WPCs.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.278-286
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• 2007

As a part of enhancing the performance of wood-plastic composites (WPC), polypropylene (PP)/ nanoclay (NC)/ wood flour (WF) nanocomposites were prepared using melt blending and injection molding process to evaluate their thermal stability. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to investigate thermal degradation kinetics of the nanocomposites both dynamic and isothermal conditions. Dynamic scans of the TGA showed an increased thermal stability of the nanocomposites at moderate wood flour concentrations (up to 20 phr, percentage based on hundred percent resin) while it decreased with the addition of 30 phr wood flour. The activation energy $(E_a)$ of thermal degradation of nanocomposites increased when nanoclay was added and the concentration of wood flour increased. Different equations were used to evaluate isothermal degradation kinetics using the rate of thermal degradation of the composites, expressed as weight loss (%) from their isothermal TGA curves. Degradation occurred at faster rate in the initial stages of about 60 min., and then proceeded in a gradual manner. However, nanocomposites with wood flour of 30 phr heated at $300^{\circ}C$ showed a drastic difference in their degradation behavior, and reached almost a complete decomposition after 40 min. of the isothermal heating. The degree of decomposition was greater at higher temperatures, and the residual weight of isothermal degradation of nanocomposites greatly varied from about 10 to 90%, depending on isothermal temperatures. The isothermal degradation of nanocomposites also increased their thermal stability with the addition of 1 phr nanoclay and of wood flour up to 20 phr. But, the degradation of PP100/NC1/MAPP3/WF30 nanocomposites with 30 phr wood flour occurs at a faster rate compared to those of the others, indicating a decrease in their thermal stability.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.600-606
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• 2016

Wood-based composite panels such as plywood, particleboard (PB), or medium density fiberboard (MDF) are mostly used in the lamination on their surface for the manufacturing of furniture, or interior building products, the concern on the formaldehyde emission (FE) from the surface laminated wood panels is increasingly attracting attentions from the public. Thus, this study was conducted to understand influence of surface laminating materials to the FE from PB and MDF with or without edge sealing, using 24-hour desiccator method. Both PB samples that had been laminated on their surface with low-pressure laminate (LPL) or polypropylene (PP) film and MDF that had been treated with poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) or coating were tested for the FE with or without edge sealing. As expected, the FE of PB with the sealed edges decreased to 37.4% and 80.7% with the LPL and PP lamination, respectively. The surface laminated MDF with the sealed edges also showed a decrease in the emission up to 57.8% and 54.3%, with the PVC lamination and coating, respectively. However, the coated MDF samples showed 5.3% increase in the emission when their edges were not sealed, indicating a FE form the solvent used for coating. These results showed that the type of surface lamination materials on wood-based composite panels has a great impact on their resultant FE, indicating that the influence of surface laminating materials should be taken into consideration for the formaldehyde mission measurement.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2011

Wood Polymer Composite (WPC) has attracted a great deal of attention in environmental industries due to renewable resources, processability, excellent physical properties and logging regulations for application to housing units and engineering construction materials. In this study, commercial WPCs were prepared by using a modular intermeshing co-rotating twin screw extruder. The effect of three main factors such as wood flour contents, coupling agent concentrations and pre-treatment of wood flour on the properties of WPCs was extensively investigated. It was found that tensile strength and thermal stability were decreased with increasing wood flour contents whereas the water absorption was increased. Addition of maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MA) into WPC exhibited better physical properties. On the contrary, the water absorption was slightly decreased with PP-g-MA. Finally the sample, which was prepared with pre-treated wood flour, represented the highest tensile strength. However, the water absorption of the sample was increased due to the transition of crystalline structure of cellulose.