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Polymers
Volume 13
Issue 16
10.3390/polym13162681
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Article

Comparison of the Physico-Mechanical and Weathering Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites Made of Wood Fibers from Discarded Parts of Pomelo Trees and Polypropylene

by
Ke-Chang Hung
1,
Wen-Chao Chang
2,
Jin-Wei Xu
1,
Tung-Lin Wu
3,4 and
Jyh-Horng Wu
1,*
1
Department of Forestry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan
2
Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Council of Agriculture, Tainan 712, Taiwan
3
College of Technology and Master of Science in Computer Science, University of North America, Fairfax, VA 22033, USA
4
Department of Wood Science and Design, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Antonio Pizzi
Polymers 2021, 13(16), 2681; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162681
Received: 22 July 2021 / Revised: 5 August 2021 / Accepted: 9 August 2021 / Published: 11 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Degradation of Wood-Based Materials II)
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare the characteristics of wood–plastic composites (WPCs) made of polypropylene (PP) and wood fibers (WFs) from discarded stems, branches, and roots of pomelo trees. The results show that the WPCs made of 30–60 mesh WFs from stems have better physical, flexural, and tensile properties than other WPCs. However, the flexural strengths of all WPCs are not only comparable to those of commercial wood–PP composites but also meet the strength requirements of the Chinese National Standard for exterior WPCs. In addition, the color change of WPCs that contained branch WFs was lower than that of WPCs that contained stem or root WFs during the initial stage of the accelerated weathering test, but the surface color parameters of all WPCs were very similar after 500 h of xenon arc accelerated weathering. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs showed many cracks on the surfaces of WPCs after accelerated weathering for 500 h, but their flexural modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) values did not differ significantly during weathering. Thus, all the discarded parts of pomelo trees can be used to manufacture WPCs, and there were no significant differences in their weathering properties during 500 h of xenon arc accelerated weathering. View Full-Text
Keywords: physico-mechanical property; polypropylene; pomelo tree; xenon arc accelerated weathering; wood–plastic composite (WPC) physico-mechanical property; polypropylene; pomelo tree; xenon arc accelerated weathering; wood–plastic composite (WPC)
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MDPI and ACS Style

Hung, K.-C.; Chang, W.-C.; Xu, J.-W.; Wu, T.-L.; Wu, J.-H. Comparison of the Physico-Mechanical and Weathering Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites Made of Wood Fibers from Discarded Parts of Pomelo Trees and Polypropylene. Polymers 2021, 13, 2681. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162681

AMA Style

Hung K-C, Chang W-C, Xu J-W, Wu T-L, Wu J-H. Comparison of the Physico-Mechanical and Weathering Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites Made of Wood Fibers from Discarded Parts of Pomelo Trees and Polypropylene. Polymers. 2021; 13(16):2681. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162681

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hung, Ke-Chang, Wen-Chao Chang, Jin-Wei Xu, Tung-Lin Wu, and Jyh-Horng Wu. 2021. "Comparison of the Physico-Mechanical and Weathering Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites Made of Wood Fibers from Discarded Parts of Pomelo Trees and Polypropylene" Polymers 13, no. 16: 2681. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162681

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