Abstract
Abstract This paper reports on a novel and cost-effective means of enhancing the porosity, stiffness and resistance to moisture/water, swelling and fire of wood plastic composite panels (WPCs); an increasingly important family of engineered materials that can be produced entirely from waste. This solution opens a new opportunity for transferring 100% wastes into resources. In this study, waste polypropylene container and saw dust was used to produce WPC and mixed waste glass was selected as secondary filler. Effect of particle size and coupling agent on mechanical properties of WPCs were investigated. A series of specimens were prepared with powder filler (saw dust and glass)/polypropylene binder with weight percent ratio of 60/40 respectively. Secondary glass powder filler was incorporated to the blend, replacing 5–30% of wood powder content. The glass-reinforced-WPCs were stiffer (higher MOE) with an increment of around 0.5 GPa per 5 wt% addition of glass powder achieved, less porous and exhibited better resistance to moisture/water absorption, thickness swelling and fire. Although the improvement in flexural strength (MOR) was less significant, this study confirms incorporating glass powder in WPCs can be a solution to create enhanced performance of thermoplastic-wood composite for high moisture environment application out of 100% wastes.
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