Preparation and characterization of wood plastic composites using recycled (lldpe) plastic and sawdust.
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Date
2015-11-03
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Abstract
There has been a growing interest in Wood-Plastic Composite (WPC) products and their use in various applications over the past years. Increase in environmental awareness and the cheaper cost of raw materials are the main force driving the use of recycled plastics in making WPCs. Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) were fabricated using recycled LLDPE plastics and sawdust from Wawa and Mahogany (were fabricated). Part of the sawdust was treated with 5 % NaOH solution before being used for the composite and the remaining was used without treatment. The FTIR of the treated as well as the untreated sawdust and the plastic were taken. The samples were made using extrusion and injection molding methods. The density and water absorption capacity of the products were determined. 50 % loading, the treated mahogany-plastic composite absorbed (4.74 %) the least amount of water compared to all the other formulations. The ultimate tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the samples were also determined. At 10 % loading, the treated mahogany-plastic composite had an ultimate tensile strength 35.54 MPa and modulus of elasticity of 3.25 MPa which are the highest among all. The results obtained showed that these properties are wood species dependent as the Mahogany- plastic composites gave the best properties compared to the Wawa and the mixture. This suggests a better adhesion between the hardwood filler and the LLDPE matrix compared to the softwood. The influence of the chemical treatment of sawdust on the physical and mechanical properties of sawdust-LLDPE composite was investigated at various loading levels from 10 % up to 50 %. Results indicate that the mechanical properties of the chemically treated sawdust-LLDPE composites were found to be higher than those of the untreated. This indicates that better dispersion of the filler with the LLDPE matrix has occurred upon chemical treatment of the filler. The water absorption test showed that composite prepared from the chemically treated sawdust absorbed lower amount of water compared to the untreated sawdust composite. This suggests that hydrophilic nature of the cellulose in the sawdust has significantly decreased upon chemical treatment. The results clearly show that the properties of WPC depend on the wood species used and also the treatment given to the wood.
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A Thesis submitted to the department of Chemistry,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy Polymer Science and Technology, College of Science.