Physicomechanical Properties of Sustainable Wood Plastic Composites of Tropical Sawdust and Thermoplastic Waste for Possible Utilization in the Wood Industry
This work investigated and quantified the physicomechanical properties of
flat-pressed
wood plastic composites produced with recycled polyethylene terephthalate,
recycled polyethylene and sawdust derived from selected tropical timbers,
namely, Nauclea diderrichii, Brachystegia eurycoma, Erythrophleum suaveolens and Prosopis africana, for possible
utilization in the wood industry. The compounding of the polymer blends of the
precursor plastics, namely recycled PET (rPET) and recycled PE (rPE) with the sawdust
(SD) from the selected timbers to produce the desired wood rPET/rPE composites
was carried out via the flat press method. The characterization of the
physicomechanical properties of the wood plastic composites (WPCs) produced,
such as the density, hardness, flexural
strength, ultimate tensile strength, elongation %, thickness swelling
and water absorption capacity was carried out using methods based mainly on the
European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the American Society for Testing
Materials (ASTM) standards. The results of the investigation on the resultant
composites indicated that changes in the SD content affected the density of
flat-pressed
WPCs in line with literature. Generally, it was observed that as wood dust
increased and PET content decreased, the density of composites decreased with
some deviations as expected probably due to the anisotropic nature of the wood fillers.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there was a statistically
significant variation in the wood composites of Nuclea diderichii based on the physicomechanical values as the
p-value (0.020) obtained was less than the critical level of α = 0.05. It was also observed that the
composite, Wood 1 Sample
5 (W1S5) which was composed of 40% rPE, 40% rPET and 20%
SD (derived from Nuclea diderichii),
had the highest percentage elongation (26.84%); the highest flexural strength
(14.995 N/mm2) and possibly the least carbon footprint in the
environment. These properties of W1S5 suggest that it
could therefore be the best option for the production of building materials
like ceiling boards or floor skirting in the wood plastic composite industry.
The results of these investigations have therefore
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