Evaluation of properties of propylene-pine wood Plastic composite

The low maintenance cost of wood plastic composite (WPC) is generating a boom in the market of wood composites products. An attempt is made to fabricate WPCs with saw dust of pine wood flour which is wastages of wood/furniture industry. These composites (WPCs) are made using matrices of recycled polypropylene (rPP) with sawdust (Pine Wood flour) as filler. Corresponding WPCs are also made using virgin plastics (vPP) for comparison with the recycled plastic based composites. All varieties of these WPCs are made through melt compounding and injection moulding with varying formulations based on the plastic type (PP), plastic form (recycled and virgin), wood four content and addition of coupling agent(MAPP). The water absorption and thickness swelling evaluated. To understand the changes in WPCs stability and durability performance, microstructure of the composites are examined, Incorporation of maleated polypropylene (MAPP) coupling agent in composite formulation improved the stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fractured surfaces of WPCs confirmed that the MAPP coupling improved the interfacial bonding between the plastic and the wood filler for the series of composites.