Extrusion processing of wood raw materials for use in wood-polymer composites

Abstract: The interest in wood-polymer composites and their use in different applications has been growing over the last 10-15 years. Environmental issues and demands on lower material costs are the driving forces behind the increasing use of renewable materials such as wood and other natural fibres as reinforcement in polymer composites. Wood flour consisting of small wood particles is currently used as the main wood raw material in commercial wood-polymer composites. However, the reinforcing potential of wood flour is limited. A better reinforcement could be achieved by using wood fibres with a higher aspect ratio as raw material, but individual fibres are seldom used in composite manufacturing due to processing problems and high cost. Therefore, the objective of the work was to study the possibility to use wood chips as raw material and separate individual fibres with higher aspect ratios from the wood chips during the composite manufacturing process. First, the effect of the extrusion process only on wood raw material was studied without a matrix polymer, and then composites using polypropylene as matrix were made. The main goal was to produce wood particles/fibres with high aspect ratio during the manufacturing of wood polymer composites. The effects of extrusion parameters, different screw configurations, raw materials and raw material pre-treatments were evaluated. The size of the separated wood particles and fibres was measured using optical fibre analysis methods. Microstructure of wood particles as well as the fractured surfaces of prepared composites were examined using electron microscopy. The mechanical properties of the composites were measured using flexural and impact testing. The results showed that wood chips can be used as raw material in a one-step manufacturing process of wood-polymer composites. Also, individual fibres with a higher aspect ratio than wood flour were separated from the wood chips with suitable processing conditions