• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.218-222
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• 2011

The effect of cycled temperature change on the mechanical properties of wood flour(50 wt.% and 70 wt.%) polypropylene WPC(Wood Plastic Composites) was investigated in this study. Flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC showed a decrease due to the degradation of interfacial adhesion between polymer matrix and wood flour by the freeze-thaw test regardless of the cycled number. At the higher loading level of wood flour, the reduction of the flexural modulus was remarkable. After the cycled heat-freeze test, it was found that the flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC were lower at the high temperature ($60^{\circ}C$) and higher at the low temperature ($-20^{\circ}C$). At the low temperature ($-20^{\circ}C$) which is below glass transition temperature of polypropylene ($-10^{\circ}C$), WPC is in a glassy state which brings about the high stiffness and strength. At the high temperature ($60^{\circ}C$), the flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC with 50 wt.% wood flour were lower because of the increase of polymer ductility.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.298-305
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• 2010

The effects of wood species, chemical components, filler loading level, filler particle size, and coupling agent on the water absorption property of the wood flour filled polypropylene (PP) composites were investigated in this study. After 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 hr water immersion, Quercus (Quercus accutisima Carr.) and Maackia (Maackia amuresis Rupr. et Maxim) showed significantly lower water absorption properties compared to Larix (Larix kaempferi Lamb.). As wood flour loading increases from 10 to 50 wt%, most wood species showed increased water absorption after a given immersion period. Particle size of wood flour proved to have very significant effects on water absorption of the composites. The effect of coupling agent was positive in terms of lowering water absorption of the composites. As the treatment level of coupling agent increases, the water absorption of the composites decreases. The lowest water absorption was obtained at the lower wood flour loading (Maackia), smaller particle size and by the addition of coupling agent. Thickness swelling of the composites shows close dependency on water absorption.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.6 s.134
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• pp.55-62
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the application of a bio-composite made by the addition recycled fiber board flour as filler. Recycled fiber board (high density fiber board, HDF) flour was added to polyolefin polymer low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) for the preparation of bio-composite materials. The mechanical properties and processability of the recycled HDF flour filled LDPE and recycled HDF flour filled PP bio-composites were then measured and compared to those of wood flour (WF) and rice-husk flour (RHF) filled LDPE and PP bio-composites, respectively. The tensile and impact strengths of the recycled HDF flour filled LDPE and PP bio-composites had similar mechanical properties to those of the WF and RHF filled LDPE and PP bio-composites. To measure the processability, torques of the bio-composites were also measured. The torques of the HDF flour filled LDPE and PP bio-composites were lower than those of the WF and RHF filled polyolefin (PP and LDPE) bio-composites with a filler loading of 30 wt.%. This result showed definite processability, which was not related with the distribution of the particle size of the material added. The recycled fiber board flour filled bio-composites showed applicability as substitutes for the bio-composites currently used in the bio-composites industry.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.572-579
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• 2017

Determination of the wood content in wood plastic composite (WPC) is crucial to form reliable WPC market. WPC with simple formulation consisting of only two components (wood flour and polypropylene) was examined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for determining wood content in the WPC. TGA method using derivative peak temperature (DTp) of polypropylene under low heating rate ($5^{\circ}C/min$) showed more reliable calibration curve and lower error factor compared to method of using the percentage of weight loss of wood flour. In addition, AMS using bio-based carbon content showed greater reliability for the determination of wood content in the WPC in comparison with the TGA method.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.36 no.5 s.108
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• pp.69-77
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• 2004

Degradations of pine, yellow poplar and sweet gum by two fungi, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus and Trichophyton rubrum LSK-27 were investigated. P. cinabarinus degraded pine block samples much faster than T rub rum LSK-27, whereas P. cinnabarinus and T rubrum LSK-27 degraded yellow poplar and sweet gum at almost the same rate. In an effort to get a better understanding of how fungi degrade lignin in wood, contents of various functional groups were analyzed. After three-months of degradation of pine flour by these fungi, the following changes were observed: an increase in condensed phenolic OH group and carboxylic acid group content, a decrease in the guaiacyl phenolic OH content, and little change of aliphatic OH group content. Further studies in the degradation of pine flour by P. cinnabarinus indicated that the increase in condensed phenolic OH group content and the decrease in guaiacyl phenolic OH group content occurred in the first month of the degradation. The changes of functional group contents in the degradation of unbleached softwood kraft pulp by P. cinnabarinus had the same trends as those in the degradation of pine flour. That is, structural alteration of lignin due to the kraft pulping process had little effect on how P. cinnabarinus degraded lignin.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.426-433
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• 2009

This study investigates the tensile and morphological properties of nanocomposites prepared from poly(lactic acid) (PLA), wood flour (WF) and montmorillonite (MMT) by melt compounding with a twin screw extruder. In order to enhance the mechanical properties of PLA/WF composites, maleic anhydride grafted PLA (MAPLA) is synthesized as a compatibilizer. MAPLA prepared in the laboratory is characterized using FT-IR (Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy). From the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis for nanocomposites, we confirmed that silicate layers of MMT are intercalated and partially exfoliated. When 2 wt% MAPLA is added, the tensile strength and modulus of PLA/WF/MAPLA composites were higher than those of the PLA/WF composite. The addition of MMT increases the tensile modulus of PLA/WF/MAPLA composites but decreases the tensile strength.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.434-439
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• 2009

This study investigates the thermal properties of nanocomposites prepared from poly(lactic acid) (PLA), wood flour (WF) and montmorillonite (MMT) by melt compounding with a twin screw extruder. In order to enhance the mechanical properties of PLA/WF composites, maleic anhydride grafted PLA (MAPLA) is synthesized as a compatibilizer. MAPLA prepared in the laboratory is characterized using FR-IR. From SEM microphotographs, the presence of MAPLA has a positive effect on the mechanical properties of WF-reinforced PLA composites. The addition of WF/MAPLA into neat PLA increased the glass transition temperature ($T_g$). The addition of 1 to 5 wt% MMT into PLA/WF/MAPLA composite decreases the $T_g$. The cold crystallization temperature ($T_{cc}$) was decreased by the addition of MMT. The MMT could act as effective nucleating sites of PLA crystallization. The thermal stability evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is improved with the contents of MMT up to 3 wt%.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.8-15
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• 2014

The increase of wet web solid content in wet pressing will save drying energy greatly. We applied wood flours as spacers to increase the old corrugated container (OCC) solid contents in wet pressing. The mixed furnish of OCC and wood flours of 3-5% (wt/wt) increased bulk and drainage rate, and by increasing wet pressing pressure, its solid content started to be higher than 100% OCC furnish at more than 50% solid content level. Addition of cationic starch and drainage aid to the mixed furnish increased solid content further up to around 2%. Cationic starch addition compensated or exceeded the loss of tensile and compressive strength caused by the addition of wood flour, but drainage aid did not. Cationic starch also improved the stretch of the OCC, which could mitigate cracking at folding in boxboard.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.311-318
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• 2001

A three-dimensional numerical analysis of the flow and heat transfer characteristic of wood-flour-filled polypropylene melt in an extrusion die was carried out Used for this analysis were Finite Concept Method based on FVM, unstructured grid and non-Newtonian fluid viscosity model. Temperature and flow fields are closely coupled through temperature dependent viscosity and viscous dissipation. With large Peclet, Nahme, Brinkman numbers, viscous heating caused high temperature belt near die housing, Changing taper plate thickness and examining some predefined parameters at die exit investigated the effect of taper plate on velocity and temperature uniformities. In the presence of taper plate, uniformity at die exit could be improved and there existed an optimum thickness to maximize it.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2002

The main goal of this study was to analyze the effect of process additives, i.e. maleated polypropylene (MAPP), and nucleating agent on the viscoelastic properties of different types of extruded polypropylene-wood plastic composites manufactured from either PP homopolymer, high crystallinity PP or PP impact copolymer using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. And also, the esterification reaction between wood flour and maleated polypropylene, and its role in determining the mechanical properties of wood flour-polypropylene composites was investigated. The wood plastic composites were manufactured using 60% pine wood flour and 40% polypropylene on a Davis-Standard $Woodtruder^{TM}$. Dynamic mechanical thermal properties, polymer damping peaks(than ${\delta}$), storage modulus (E') and loss modulus (E") were measured using a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer. XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), also known as ESCA (Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis) study of wood flour treated with MAPP was performed to obtain information on the chemical nature of wood fiber before and after treatment. To analyze the effect of frequency on the dynamic mechanical properties of the various composites, DMA tests were performed over a temperature range of -20 to $100^{\circ}C$, at four different frequencies (1, 5, 10 and 25 Hz), and at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/min$. From these results, the activation energy of the various composite was measured using an Arrhenius relationship to investigate the effect of maleated PP and nucleating agent on the measurement of the interphase between the wood and plastic of the extruded polypropylene wood plastic composites.