Physical and Mechanical Properties of Wood-Plastic Composites Made with Microfibrillar Blends of LDPE, HDPE and PET

Abstract

The effect of microfibrillar blends of recycled plastics on selected physical and mechanical characteristics of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) was investigated in this study. The production of wood plastic composites was carried out through a two-step extrusion technique. The plastic blends were drawn after extrusion to obtain microfibrillar morphology. The addition of polyethylene-co-glycidyl methacrylate (E-GMA) enhanced compatibility between the two phases and a homogenous structure was seen in the fracture surfaces by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The crystallinity of base polymers increased with the addition of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microfibrils, E-GMA and wood flour. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were also used to determine the crystallinity of all samples. According to the XRD results, the crystallinity degree of recycled plastics was higher than that of virgin plastics. E-GMA improved the water resistance of wood-plastic composites. The mechanical properties of samples were improved with the addition of PET microfibrils. The microfibrillar blending technique was found to be an effective approach for the production of high quality WPCs from recycled plastic blends.