Morphology and mechanical properties of reconstituted wood board waste-polyethylene composites

The morphology and mechanical properties of reconstituted wood board waste-polyethylene composites were studied using virgin polyethylene (PE) and 2 wt% maleic anhydride (MA) modified polyethylene (MAPE) as matrices. Although the wood waste (WW) and PE are not compatible with each other, dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) show considerable shifting in the a-transition temperature and crystallisation temperature (T-c) of PE in the unmodified composites, indicating physical interaction between PE and WW. The increase in crystallinity with increasing WW content up to 50 wt% indicates that WW is a potential nucleating agent for PE. However, the tensile strength of the unmodified composites gradually decreases with WW content, indicating that the improvement in interface adhesion is essential for WW to be used as reinforcing fillers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) results indicate that MAPE interacts with WW through esterification and hydrogen bonding to form good adhesion between the two phases. Inward shifting in glass transition temperature (T-g) for the MAPS-based composites containing less than 60 wt% WW indicates that WW and MAPS are partially compatible with each other. SEM micrographs of MAPE-based composites provide further evidence for this mechanism. The tensile strength of the MAPS-based composites is clearly higher than that of the virgin PE-based composites.