Effects of microstructure on wear behaviour of wood reinforced polypropylene composite

Friction coefficient, wear rate and wear micromechanism of wood reinforced polypropylene (WPC), pine wood and polypropylene (PP) have been compared. WPC and wood present very similar coefficients of friction, whereas PP has the highest value. However, the wear rate is significantly smaller for the WPC than for the other two materials. The higher stiffness and yield stress of the WPC minimises the plasticity inherent to the neat PP in the contact zone, resulting in a lower coefficient of friction and wear rate. Whereas in wood specimen generalised microfisuration and delamination can be observed at the worn surface, the wood fibres embedded in WPC produces fewer wear debris, which is probably due to the restrained deformation of the collapsed and/or matrix filled cellular structure of wood fibres. So, the WPC has shown better wear performances than its neat constituents, polymer and wood. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.