• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.327-332
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• 2014

Polymer/wood flour composites are recently attracting a lot of interest because they are economic and ecofriendly. In this study, the effects of wood flour size on the thermal and mechanical properties of a polypropylene/wood flour composite were investigated. Mechanical properties of the composite samples prepared by melt-mixing and compression molding were tested by UTM and an izod impact tester, and thermal properties of them were measured by TGA, DMA, DSC and TMA. The best coupling agent was selected by testing three kinds of maleic anhydride modified polypropylene coupling agents, and under the same condition, the effects of wood flour size on the physical properties of the composite were investigated. According to the test results for four different wood flour sizes of 600, 250, 180 and $150{\mu}m$, flexural strength, flexural modulus, crystallinity and water-resistivity of the composite increased with decreasing wood flour size.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 2001

Rice husk flours were analyzed by chemical composition and thermogravimetric methods in nitrogen atmosphere to discuss its feasibility as a raw material for manufacturing agricultural lignocellulosic fiber-thermoplastic polymer composite. It was revealed in the chemical composition analysis that rice husk flour was composed of moisture, 5.0%; lignin, 21.6%; holocellulose, 60.8%; ash, 12.6%. In the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermal decomposition behavior of rice husk flour from room temperature to $350^{\circ}C$ was similar to that of wood flour, but rice husk flour was more thermally stable from 350 to $800^{\circ}C$ than wood flour because of higher silica content in the rice husk flour and smaller particle size of rice husk flour. The activation energy of thermal decomposition was evaluated using Flynn & Wall expression. As the thermal decomposition proceeded in rice husk flour, the activation energy of thermal decomposition appeared almost constant up to ${\alpha}=0.25$, but thereafter increased. Activation energy of thermal decomposition in wood flour, however, decreased steeply up to ${\alpha}=0.3$, but thereafter remained almost constant. From the results, rice husk flour was thought be a substitute for wood flour in manufacturing agricultural lignocellulosic fiber-thermoplastic polymer composite in the aspect of thermal decomposition.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.109-122
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the removal characteristics of heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage by porous zeolite-slag ceramics (ZS ceramics) that was prepared by adding wood flour as pore-foaming agent while calcining the mixtures of natural zeolite and converter slag. The batch test showed that the removal efficiency of heavy metals by pellet-type porous ZS ceramics increased as the particle size of wood flour was decreased and as the weight mixing ratio of wood flour to ZS ceramics was increased. The optimal particle size and weight mixing ratio of wood flour were measured to be $75{\mu}m$ and 7~10%, respectively. The removal test with the porous ZS ceramics prepared in these optimal condition showed very high removal efficiencies: more than 98.4% for all heavy metals and 73.9% for sulfate ion. Relative to nonporous ZS ceramics, the increment of removal efficiency of heavy metals by porous ZS ceramics with $75{\mu}m$ and 10% wood flour was 5.8%, 60.5%, 36.9%, 87.7%, 10.3%, and 57.4% for Al, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn, respectively. The mechanism analysis of removal by the porous ZS ceramics suggested that the heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage are eliminated by multiple reactions such as adsorption and/or ion exchange as well as precipitation and/or co-precipitation.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.69-78
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• 2007

The mechanical properties of wood flour, Hwangto (325 and 1,400 mesh per 25,4 mm) and coupling agent-reinforced HDPE composites were investigated in this study. Hwangto and maleated polyethylene (MAPE) were used as an inorganic filler and a coupling agent, respectively. The addition of Hwangto and MAPE to virgin HDPE also increased the Young's modulus in the smaller degree. The addition of wood flour and Hwangto to virgin HDPE increased the tensile strength, due to the high uniform dispersion of HDPE by high surface area of Hwangto in HDPE and wood flour. MAPE also significantly increased the tensile strength. When wood flour was added, there was no notable difference on the tensile properties, in terms of Hwangto particle size. Hwangto also improved the flexural modulus and strength of reinforced HDPE composites. With different particle sizes of Hwangto, there was no considerable difference in flexural modulus and strength of reinforced HDPE composites. The addition of Hwangto showed slightly lower impact strength than that of wood flour. However, the particle size of Hwangto showed no significant effect on the impact strength of reinforced composites. In conclusion, reinforced HDPE composites with organic and inorganic fillers provide highly improved mechanical properties over virgin HDPE.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.298-305
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• 2010

The effects of wood species, chemical components, filler loading level, filler particle size, and coupling agent on the water absorption property of the wood flour filled polypropylene (PP) composites were investigated in this study. After 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 hr water immersion, Quercus (Quercus accutisima Carr.) and Maackia (Maackia amuresis Rupr. et Maxim) showed significantly lower water absorption properties compared to Larix (Larix kaempferi Lamb.). As wood flour loading increases from 10 to 50 wt%, most wood species showed increased water absorption after a given immersion period. Particle size of wood flour proved to have very significant effects on water absorption of the composites. The effect of coupling agent was positive in terms of lowering water absorption of the composites. As the treatment level of coupling agent increases, the water absorption of the composites decreases. The lowest water absorption was obtained at the lower wood flour loading (Maackia), smaller particle size and by the addition of coupling agent. Thickness swelling of the composites shows close dependency on water absorption.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.71-78
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the water absorption and thickness swelling of biocomposites at room temperature. These properties of bio-composites mainly depend on the ability of the agro-flour to absorb water through hydrogen bonding between water and the hydroxyl groups of the holocellulose and lignin in the cell wall. As the content of agro-flour increased, the water absorption and thickness swelling of the bio-composites increased. The effects of agro-flour content and rice husk flour (RHF) particle size on the water absorption and thickness swelling of the bio-composites were evaluated. In general, wood-based materials showed significantly higher water absorption and thickness swelling than the bio-composites. This might be attributed to the ability of the polybutylene succinate (PBS) hydrophobic polymer to prohibit the water absorption and thickness swelling of the bio-composites, Therefore, the use of agro-flour filled PBS bio-composites, which exhibit improved dimensional stability in comparison with wood-based materials, is recommended.

• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2008

This study was carried out to investigate the promoting effect of wood flour on the mycelial growth of Lentinus lepideus and Lentinus edodes. To determine the optimal culture condition, we first examined the tissue origin of pine flour (Pinus densiflora) including needle, bark, root and xylem. Only the xylem-derived flour increased mycelial growth compared to no treatment control. The addition of the xylem flour (5 g/l) showed the highest increase and the glucose level in the basal medium was best at 10 g/l. The smaller particle size of the xylem flour showed the positive effect on mycelial growth; two-fold increase when supplemented with flour of which particle size is less than $106\;{\mu}m$ in diameter compared to $425\;{\mu}m$. The addition of the xylem flour continuously increased the mycelial production for 25 days while mycelia stopped growing within 15 days without the xylem flour. In addition, when woody flour obtained from the different tree species was applied to L. edodes mycelial culture, all treatments accelerated mycelial production compared to the control. Based on all results described above, we conclude that the supplementation of woody flour to culture medium may be an another promising way to increase mycelial production of economically important fungi.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.310-319
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• 2009

The representative eco-friendly materials, or bio-composites, were made by incorporating biodegradable polymer of polybutylene succinate (PBS) as the matrix and bamboo flour (BF) as the natural filler. In present study, the effects of content and particle size of natural filler on the bio-composites were carried out around their mechanical, visco-elastic, and thermal properties. By the incorporation of BF, the tensile properties decreased but the viscoelastic and thermal properties revealed positive effect through interaction between the polymer and natural filler. Also, the vulnerability of interfacial adhesion between hydrophobic PBS and hydrophilic BF appeared to adversely affect the properties of bio-composites.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.499-509
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• 2014

Wood filler is a porous and anisotropic material having different size, shape, and aspect ratio. The use of wood fillers such as wood particle, wood flour, and wood pulp in wood plastic composites (WPCs) are growing rapidly because these wood fillers give improved strength and stiffness to WPCs. However, the wood fillers have originally poor compatibility with plastic matrix affecting the mechanical properties of WPCs. Therefore, to improve compatibility between wood and plastic, numbers of physical and chemical treatments were investigated. While the various treatments led to improved performances in WPC industries using petroleum-based plastics, full biodegradation is still issues due to increased environmental concerns. Hence, bio-based plastics such as polylactide and polyhydroxybutyrate having biodegradable characteristics are being applied to WPCs, but relatively expensive prices of existing bio-based plastics prevent further uses. As conventional processing methods, extrusion, injection, and compression moldings have been used in WPC industries, but to apply WPCs to engineered or structural places, new processing methods should be developed. As one system, co-extrusion technique was introduced to WPCs and the co-extruded WPCs having core-shell structures make the extended applications of WPCs possible.