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Impacts of freezing and thermal treatments on dimensional and mechanical properties of wood flour-HDPE composite

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Abstract

Wood plastic composite (WPC) of wood flour (WF), high density polyethylene (HDPE), maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (MAPE) and lubricant was prepared by extrusion, and then exposed to different temperatures to evaluate the effects of freezing and thermal treatment on its dimensional and mechanical properties. At elevated temperatures, WPC expanded rapidly initially, and then contracted slowly until reaching an equilibrium state. Treatment at 52°C and relative humidity of 50% for 16 days improved the mechanical properties of WPC: flexure, tensile strength, and izod unnotched impact strength increased by 8%, 10% and 15%, respectively. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests showed that the degree of crystalization of HDPE in WPC declined with increasing treatment temperature.

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Correspondence to Qing-wen Wang.

Additional information

Foundation project: This research was support by the Chinese Science and Technology Support Program (Project No. 2012BAD32B04) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (DL11BB37).

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Yang, Wj., Xie, Yj., Wang, Hg. et al. Impacts of freezing and thermal treatments on dimensional and mechanical properties of wood flour-HDPE composite. Journal of Forestry Research 24, 143–147 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-013-0334-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-013-0334-0

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