Physical and mechanical properties of wood plastic composites from teak wood sawdust and high density polyethylene (HDPE)

Abstract

Sawdust is a waste from furniture industry which is mostly left in the garbage or burn for landfill in huge quantities every year. Efforts to find utilization of this material have resulted mostly in low value. However, sawdust waste can be considered as an alternative to fabricate fiber reinforced polymer composites for furniture function. This study was undertaken to determine the physical and mechanical properties of wood plastic composites, which were made under laboratory conditions by hot pressing of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with teakwood sawdust as filler. Seven levels of mixed flour, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70%, based on the composition by weight was added to the HDPE powder with palm oil as coupling agent. A flat pressing technology, the simplest method for capable of large dimension wood plastic panel production, was used to manufacture testing specimens in dimensions 5.8 x 7.3 cm2. Investigation of the mechanical property of the composites material, according to the American society for testing and materials (ASTM) method, was done by impact strength tester. The measurement results were found that impact strength was decreased upon the increasing of the sawdust up to 30 % mixing then gradually increased. However, by increasing mixed flour content, water resistance of the panels was negatively influenced. The best appearance of composites material in comparison with the natural woods was ~30% sawdust powder mixing. The wood plastic panels were utilized for construction of a Thai spirit house as an outdoor decoration. © 2017 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.