Water Absorption Behavior and Impact Strength of PVC/Wood Flour Composites

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Abstract
PVC/wood flour composites were prepared by compression molding using sapwood and heartwood from Angelin Pedra as filler. The composites specimens were subjected to water immersion and impact tests. The results showed that the water absorption of all composites increased slightly with increasing immersion time and wood content. However, the values were considerably low compared with control sample, common solid woods and wood plastic composites reported in literature. PVC/sapwood composites showed slightly higher values for moisture absorption ability due to the difference in chemical constituents’ ratio. PVC compound and PVC/sapwood composite containing 10 phr of wood flour exhibited maximum water absorption in 63 days and it corresponded to 0.25 % and 0.58 % weight gain, respectively. In relation to impact test, the results indicated that impact property was affected by wood content and less by wood type. Composites containing 10 phr of wood content showed greater impact strength (decreased by around 60 %) than those prepared with 25 and 40 phr of wood flour content (decreased approximately by 75 %). In general the composites prepared with 10 phr of wood flour content exhibited a better performance in both parameters measured in this study.

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