Development and material properties of reinforced plywood using carbon fiber and waste rubber powder

Abstract

This article reports on the use of carbon fiber (CF) and waste rubber (WR) as reinforcing agents for plywood. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of three variable parameters: CF content, WR content, and CF length, on the mechanical and physical properties of the plywood. The properties evaluated were mechanical properties in terms of modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and impact strength (IS), and physical properties including water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS). Beech (Fagus orientalis) veneers having 1.8‐mm thickness were used in the production of 7‐ply plywoods. The CF and WR layers were used in the middle (core) layer of plywood samples. Bonding of the wood layers was done using urea‐formaldehyde resin (160 g/m2), and to form the CF and WR layers and bond them to wood veneers, methylene diphenyl isocyanate resin (150 g/m2) were used. Based on the results, the CF was found to have significant effect on the mechanical properties at 99% confidence level. In addition, both the mechanical and physical performances of plywoods improved with increase in the CF content and length. At a certain amount of the CF, the panels with longer (18 cm) CF showed superior mechanical properties. As it expected, the MOR values considerably reduced with the addition of WR, while the MOE, IS, WA, and TS of the specimens improved when compared with the control. The IS of the samples increased as much as 32.5% with the addition of 30 wt% of the WR. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:675–680, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers