Siddiqui Mohammad N, Redhwi Halim H, Andrady Anthony L, Furquan Sarfaraz A, Hussain Syed
Chemistry Department and IRC-Refining and Advanced Chemicals, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Chemical Engineering Department and IRC-Refining and Advanced Chemicals, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Polymers (Basel). 2024 Dec 30;17(1):74. doi: 10.3390/polym17010074.
The natural and laboratory-accelerated weathering of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) based on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) plastics was investigated in this study. Injection molded samples of WPCs with different loadings of wood fiber ranging from 0 to 36 wt.% of wood were subjected to laboratory-accelerated weathering and natural weathering. The integrity of samples weathered to different extents was tested using a standard tensile test and surface hardness test to investigate the dependence of these properties on the duration of weathering exposure. Tensile data were used to identify the loading of wood fibers in either plastic matrix that afforded superior ultra-violet (UV) stability. Tensile measurements under uniaxial strain yielded average values of tensile strength (TS), low-extension modulus (E), and elongation at break (EB). Both natural weathering outdoors and accelerated weathering in the laboratory showed that the TS and EB decreased while the E increased with the duration of exposure for all samples tested. The change in the average TS of composites with the duration of exposure offers valuable insights. The correlation between the tensile and hardness data for the WPC samples was explored. After naturally weathering at two exposure sites, the hardness of the WPCs was found to decrease between 8% to 12.5%, depending on the composition and exposure location parameters. Furthermore, no marked difference in performance with increasing wood fiber beyond 18 wt.% was observed. WPCs can be a key parameter in environmental sustainability by being used in the building and packaging industries, which reduces carbon emissions and waste generation.
本研究对基于高密度聚乙烯（HDPE）和聚丙烯（PP）塑料的木塑复合材料（WPC）的自然老化和实验室加速老化进行了研究。将木纤维含量从0至36重量%不等的WPC注塑样品进行实验室加速老化和自然老化。使用标准拉伸试验和表面硬度试验对不同老化程度的样品完整性进行测试，以研究这些性能对老化暴露持续时间的依赖性。拉伸数据用于确定在两种塑料基体中能提供优异紫外线（UV）稳定性的木纤维含量。单轴应变下的拉伸测量得出了拉伸强度（TS）、低延伸模量（E）和断裂伸长率（EB）的平均值。室外自然老化和实验室加速老化均表明，对于所有测试样品，随着暴露持续时间的增加，TS和EB降低，而E增加。复合材料平均TS随暴露持续时间的变化提供了有价值的见解。探讨了WPC样品拉伸数据与硬度数据之间的相关性。在两个暴露地点进行自然老化后，发现WPC的硬度下降了8%至12.5%，这取决于组成和暴露位置参数。此外，未观察到木纤维含量超过18重量%时性能有明显差异。通过在建筑和包装行业使用WPC，可减少碳排放和废物产生，这是实现环境可持续性的一个关键参数。
