Preliminary study of the effects of EVA coupling agents on properties of wood-plastic composites

Abstract

As a hot-melt adhesive, ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) has been used in many industrial applications. But studies of the application of EVA in wood-plastic composites (WPC) are relatively few, so we have investigated the proposition of whether EVA is a suitable coupling agent for WPC or not. The results show that EVA with 8% VA is not a suitable coupling agent, because it reduces the mechanical properties of WPC without any significant effect on its physical properties. With an increase in the amount of wood powder, the mechanical properties of WPC decrease and the ability of water absorption of WPC increases.