• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.223-230
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• 2011

Considering of utilizing renewable resources and recycled plastics, green composites consisted of recycled polyethylene (PE) as matrix and eco-friendly natural fibers as reinforcement were processed and characterized in the present study. First, the wood flour/recycled polyethylene pellets with different wood flour contents were prepared by twin-screw extrusion processing. Using the pellets, wood flour/recycled polyethylene green composites were fabricated and the effects of wood flour loading on their flexural, tensile, impact properties, heat deflection temperature and fracture behavior were investigated. It was concluded that the flexural strength, flexural modulus, tensile modulus and heat deflection temperature of wood flour/recycled polyethylene green composites were increased with wood flour, whereas the tensile strength and impact strength were decreased. The fracture behavior observed by means of scanning electron microscopy supported qualitatively the tendency of the impact strength with wood flour loading, compared with the ductile fracture pattern of recycled polyethylene.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.91-94
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• 2005

Polypropylene as a matrix has been used for wood polymer composites(WPC). In preparing WPC, the coupling agent, Polypropylene grafted Maleic Anhydride(PP-G-MA) was used in order to obtain a good interfacial bonding force between matrix and fillers and dispersion of wood powders. In this study, the effects of wood powder contents and water absorption on the mechanical properties were experimentally investigated. The tensile strength and flexural strength of composites reached its peak value when the wood powder content was around 60 wt%. However, the peak value of the impact was observed about 30 wt% of wood powder content. The tensile strength and flexural strength increase with increasing the wood power contents. But the impact strength decrease with increasing the wood powder contents. The slight change was observed with the water absorption in the WPC. The optimal condition of the compositions such as Anti-oxidant and UV stabilizers for the outdoor application was suggested in this research.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.573-578
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• 2012

In general, most physical properties of wood/polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites are lower than those of corresponding neat PVC resin because of poor interfacial adhesion between the hydrophilic wood flour and hydrophobic PVC. Therefore, in this study, we treated wood flour with three aminosilanes to improve wood/PVC interfacial adhesion strength, and eco-friendly wood/PVC/nanoclay composites were prepared by melt blending the aminosilane-treated wood flour, a heavy metal free PVC compound, and a type of nanoclay. The effects of treating wood flour with the aminosilanes and adding the nanoclay on the mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. Mechanical properties of the composites were investigated by universal testing machine (UTM), izod impact tester, dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), and thermomechanical analyzer (TMA). The tensile properties of the composites with the aminosilane-treated wood flour were considerably higher than those of the composites with neat wood flour. Furthermore, a small amount of the nanoclay improved mechanical properties of the composites. The performance of the wood/PVC composites was considerably improved by using the aminosilane-treated wood flour and the nanoclay.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.202-208
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• 2018

In this paper, mechanical and hygroscopic properties of teak sawdust and recycled polypropylene (RPP) composites are evaluated and compared with virgin polypropylene (VPP) matrix based composites. Verities of composites are prepared by variation in the plastic types, wood plastic ratio and the addition of coupling agent in the formulations. Mixing of wood sawdust and polypropylene is done by a twin screw extruder, and then sheets of wood plastic composites (WPCs) are produced by using the compression molding method. The results show that recycled matrix composites exhibit better tensile, flexural strength with low impact strength than virgin matrix based composites. Recycled composites show low water absorption and thickness of swelling than virgin matrix based composites. The results confirm that wood content in the polymer matrix affects the performance of composites while presence maleated polypropylene (MAPP) improves the properties of the composites significantly. Developed RPP matrix composites are as useful as VPP matrix composites and have the potential to replace the wood and plastics products without any adverse effect of the plastics on the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.59-66
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• 2006

The thermal properties of wood flour, Hwangto, and maleated polyethylene (MAPE) reinforced HDPE composites were investigated in this study. The thermal behavior of reinforced wood polymer composites was characterized by means of thermogravimetric (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analyses. Hwangto and MAPE were used as an inorganic filler and a coupling agent, respectively. According to TGA analysis, the increase of wood flour level increased the thermal degradation of composites in the early stage, but decreased in the late stage. On the other hand, Hwangto reinforced composites showed the higher thermal stability than virgin HDPE, from the determination of differential peak temperature ($DT_p$). Decomposition temperature of wood flour and/or Hwangto reinforced composites increased with increase of heating rate. From DSC analysis, melting temperature of reinforced composites little bit increased with the addition of wood flour or Hwangto. As the loading of wood flour or Hwangto to HDPE increased, overall enthalpy decreased. It showed that wood flour and Hwangto absorbed more heat energy for melting the reinforced composites. Hwangto reinforced composites required more heat energy than wood flour reinforced composites and virgin HDPE. Coupling agent gave no significant effect on the thermal properties of composites. Thermal analyses indicate that composites with Hwangto are more thermally stable than those without Hwangto.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.67-73
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• 2004

The influence of liquefied wood (LW) on the mechanical and thermal properties of liquefied wood-polymer composites (LWPC) was investigated in this study. The thermal behaviors of LWPC were characterized by means of thermogravimetric (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analyses. LW showed significant effects on the mechanical strength properties. The increase of flexural MOE and Young's modulus was related to the increase of stiffness of LWPC. The effect of LW was also significant on the flexural and tensile MOR. The impact strength decreased with the increase of LW application level. With the increased stress concentration by the poor bonding between LW and polymer, the impact strength of LWPC decreased, compared with that of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The thermal stability of LWPC decreased with the increase of LW content up to 40%. The melting temperature of HDPE decreased with the increase of LW loading level. Enthalpy of HDPE also decreased with the addition of LW. This study proves the thermal stability necessary for the consolidation of composition materials.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.57-63
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• 1999

Wood-Polymer Composites (WPC) m s prepared irom recycled films of agricullural use and wood wastes, and LLDPE and neal PE resin mlxlurr war also utilized in order to cornpiue the praperlies. Molc~ca nhydride (MA) and dicumyl peroxide were used as an adheslon pmmoler and an il~lliatotor~, .espcmivelyT. ensile prapenies of W Cw zrc measured via lenslle test as a funclieu of woad lille~m d MA contmt, and rractu1.e surface was also mvestigaled wilh SEM. As the content of wwd tiller mcreased, clongauon deneased bul modulus increased However, tensile slrength OI WPC increased only when MA war used, and 1 wt.% of MA may be hgh enough to increase the tensile properties. The tensilc ptopcrlies af WPC prepwed from recycled PE films were &nost same as thosc of neal PE resin mixture.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.15-22
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• 1999

Polymeric meterials that are used for noise and vibration damper in wood/polymer/wood sandwich composites, must have a high loss factor(tan ${\delta}$), and at the same time the storage modulus(E) of $5{\times}10^7$ to $10^9$ dyne/$cm^2$ must withstand over a wide temperature and frequency ranges. In this study, the series of epoxy resinlpolyacrylate interpenetrating polymer networks(IPNs) were synthesized by simultaneous polymerization. Their dynamic tensile properties were measured at 110Hz using Rheovibron instrument. Composite damping factor(tan ${\delta}_c$) and dynamic bending modulus($E_c,\;E_^{\prime\prime}c$) of wood/polymer/wood sandwich composites were measured at 110Hz using a Rheovibron in bending mode of vibration. These dynamic tensile studies indicated that cured epoxy resin/polyacrylates IPNs were semicompatible in the sense that both the shifting of T($E^{\prime\prime}_{max}$) or T(tan ${\delta}_{max}$) and the broadening of glass transition temperature range were observed. Especially, the cured Epikote871/P(n-BMA) IPNs of composition 70/30 to 50/50 showed a relatively high tan a and appropriate E' value over a wide temperature range; consequently the tan a e curves of wood/IPNs/wood sandwich composites was broadened over a wide temperature range.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.31-37
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• 1993

Composites of styrene polymers with woody fibers were prepared, and the effect of compatibilizers on their mechanical properties was evaluated. To improve the compatibility of wood fibers and the matrix polymers, styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer(SMA) and maleic anhydride-modified polymers were used as compatibilizers. As results, maleic anhydride-modified polystyrene and SMA were proved to improve the tensile strength of the molded composites, and also were evaluated as good compatibilizers for the wood fiber polystyrene composite. Cellulosic fiber (dissolving pulp) provided better reinforcement than lignocellulosic fiber(thermomechanical pulp). On the contrary in the case of the composite of wood fiber and acrylonitrile-butadiene styrene copolymer(ABS), SMA and maleic anhydride-modified acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer(MABS) did not act as compatibilizers. However, MABS was evaluated as a good polymer matrix to make wood fiber reinforced composite. The tensile properties of the composites of wood fiber and MABS were superior than those of wood fiber-ABS composites.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.32-38
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• 2007

Natural fibers can refer to all types of fibres only produced by nature. Their lengths vary from particles to long strands. Natural fibers are categorized roughly by six types, depending on the types of sources; base, leaf, seed, grasses, fruit and wood. Of these fibers, jute, flax, sisal and ramie are the most commonly used as reinforced materials in preparing polymer composites. In development and improvement of these composites, many studies have been implemented to overcome the drawbacks such as incompatibility, moisture problems and so on. The range of industry sectors of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites becomes more extensive gradually and many of the companies all over the world are engaged in fabrications or applications. This paper mainly discussed the recent status of the domestic/overseas market and research issues of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites. We made an exception of wood-polymer composites market which have played a great role because they had been often dealt with.