Abstract
The hydrophilic nature of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) is a disadvantage that impacts its performance in applications for construction and building products. Therefore, developing the WPCs into composites that reduce water absorption needs further evaluation. The current work investigates the effects of different water types (distilled water, and water from the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea), latex sludge types, and immersion time on the physical and mechanical properties of rubberwood-latex sludge flour-reinforced polypropylene composites. The composite samples were produced by a twin-screw extruder (mixing) and a compression molding machine (forming). The results revealed that the composites exposed to different water conditions for a long period resulted in significant (α = 0.05) reduction in the modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, screw withdraw strength, and hardness with maximum percentage reduction values of 79.9, 117.5, 69.9, and 5.84, respectively. However, adding the latex sludge at 25 wt% resisted deterioration. The composites immersed in Andaman Sea water exhibited the least water absorption and deterioration for all the mechanical properties with a minimum hardness loss (3.74%). The composites immersed in distilled water showed the maximum deterioration for all mechanical properties, with 117.5% loss in modulus of elasticity. Overall, adding the latex sludge flour to the composites made them resistant to mechanical properties deterioration, which is favorable for WPCs used in environments involving contact with the seawater, especially the Andaman Sea.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Thailand Science Research and Innovation (Research Grant Code: 65A171000006) and the Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya (RMUTSV), Thailand. We would also like to thank Mr. Nonthapat Phakdee and Mr. Pattarapong Phetsimuen for supporting this work.
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S. Khamtree and C. Srivabut wrote the main manuscript, which S. Khamtree wrote in part of Results and Discussion, and C. Srivabut wrote in part of methodology. C. Homkhiew prepared raw materials, designed of experiment, analyzed the results of experiment, wrote in part of Abstract and Conclusions. T. Ratanawilai prepared all of the Figures (Figures 1-10) and final proofreading for manuscript. S. Rawangwong prepared all of the Tables (Tables 1-5) and tested the mechaical and physical properties. All of the authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Khamtree, S., Srivabut, C., Homkhiew, C. et al. The mechanical properties deterioration of rubberwood-latex sludge flour reinforced polypropylene composites after immersing in different water conditions. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 81, 1223–1237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-01950-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-01950-7