Thickness swelling and water absorption of WPC after immersion in cold and boiling water

Abstract

Thickness swelling (TS), water absorption (WA) and edge swelling (ES) of 20 mm flat-pressed wood–plastic composites (WPC) panels with a wood flour (WF) content of 50 and 70 % manufactured using an industrial single-daylight press and samples of a high pressure laminate (HPL) compact panel were determined after immersion in cold water according to EN 317 and boiling water according to EN 438 in order to propose, describe and verify a method to (1) measure TS, WA and ES more quickly than by applying EN 317 and (2) to make the properties of WPC and HPL comparable to each other. TS, WA and ES of WPC panels determined after immersion in cold and boiling water were found to correlate with a correlation coefficient of 95–99 % equating 24 h (EN 317) and 0.5 h (EN 438) to factor x. Properties of WPC panels with WF content of 50 % were found to be comparable, respectively superior to those of HPL.