Effects of geometric particle sizes of wood flour on strength and dimensional properties of wood plastic composites
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Abstract
The effect of different wood flour sizes on strength and dimensional properties of wood-plastic composites were examined. Wood flour of different particle sizes viz; 1.00mm, 2.00mm and >2.00mm were compounded with recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at different wood/plastic ratio of 1: 1, 2: 3 and 3: 2. The results obtained showed that wood flour size > 2.00mm has the highest MOR and MOE values of 1.206N mm-2 and 2484.72Nmm-2 while wood flour size of 1.00mm had the lowest MOR and MOE values of 0.505Nmm-2 and 2195.89Nmm-2 respectively. Also the results of the physical properties showed that wood flour size of 1.00mm had the lowest thickness swelling percentage with mean values of 0.28% and 2.08% while water absorption percentage has mean values of 0.91% and 10.58% after 2 hours and 24 hours of water immersion respectively. It was observed that wood flour size of 2.00mm and particle size >2.00mm had the highest thickness swelling and water absorption percentages. This showed that strength properties of wood plastic composites increased with increased particle sizes whereas its dimensional properties increased with decreased particle sizes. The results of analysis of variance carried out on mechanical and physical properties showed that particle sizes and wood/plastic ratio had a significant effect on the mechanical and physical properties of wood plastic composites (p 0.05).
Article Details
Article Details
Dimensional stability, Geometric particle sizes, Low-density polyethylene, Wood flour, Wood plastic composite
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