Influence of stearic acid on the properties of wood-polymer composites

Abstract

We studied the influence of stearic acid on the technological, physical-mechanical and operational properties of composites based on secondary low-pressure polyethylene filled with wood flour. It was shown that the introduction of more than 1.1 wt.% of stearic acid into the wood-polymer composite improves the technological parameters of extrusion: the torque of the main drive of the extrusion equipment decreases and productivity increases. When the concentration of stearic acid in the composite is 0.8–1.25 wt.%, there is an improvement in the physical and mechanical parameters of the composite: the bending strength increases by 20% (up to 51.3 MPa) and the Charpy impact toughness of the samples with a cut increases by 37% (up to 11.9 kJ/m2), while the coefficient of linear thermal expansion and water absorption decrease.