DIMENSIONAL STABILITY AND TENSILE STRENGTH OF WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITE FORMED WITH HIGHER PLASTIC CONTENT

K J Lawal,B C Falemara,T S Bola,K S Aina,O F Gakenou,A Oluyege

doi:10.33003/fjs-2020-0403-426

Abstract

This study investigated the dimensional stability and strength properties of plastic bonded composites produced from wood waste particles and polyethylene using extruder. The composites were produced from wood species such as such as: Triplochiton scleroxylon, Terminalia superba and Gmelina arborea at a mixing proportion of 60:40 (plastic/wood) on a weight by weight basis. Evaluation of properties was carried out in accordance with the American Standard Testing Methods of 570 and 790 to determine the dimensional stability and strength properties of the composites. The results of findings revealed that water absorption and thickness swelling of the wood composites ranged from 10.08% to 15.36% and 4.33% to 5.58% respectively after 24hours and 48hours immersion in water. Tensile strength also ranged between 29.4MPa and 45.6MPa. Composite board made from T. superba wood particles had the lowest significant water absorption (10.08%), thickness swelling (4.33%) and highest significant tensile strength (45.6MPa) compared to composites produced from G. arborea and T. scleroxylon wood particles. It was observed that high density wood species exhibit lower water intake, lower thickness swelling and higher tensile strength, while the contrary is the case for lower density wood species. In conclusion, the three tree species used for the study could be recommended for the production of wood composite like particle board, fibre board, wood cement boards and others.

Highlights

Enormous volume of wastes that could be harnessed to produce value added products are generated by the wood processing industries (Akhator et al, 2017)
This study investigated the water absorption, thickness swelling and strength properties of plastic bonded composites produced from the sawdust of three wood species and Low Density polyethylene (LDPE)
The outcome of average values obtained of water absorption ranged from 10.08 % to 15.03 % after 24 hr immersion in water and 10.21 % to 15.36 % after 48 hrs immersion in water as shown in Table 1 while the thickness swelling of the composite boards ranged from 4.33 % to 5.58 % as shown in Table 1 which implies that properties of wood species employed during the production of Wood Plastic Composites (WPC) influence the dimensional properties

Summary

Introduction

Enormous volume of wastes that could be harnessed to produce value added products are generated by the wood processing industries (Akhator et al, 2017). These wastes are usually generated from the forest, sawmill, plywood mill, particleboard mill, furniture industry etc. According to Geyer et al (2017), 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics was generated by humans in 2015, 6.3 billion tons had already become waste while 9% was recycled, 12 % was incinerated and 79 % accumulated in landfills or the natural environment such as streams, rivers and canals which leads to the blockage of drainage systems which lead to flooding and land degradation

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion