Mechanical and Rheological Characteristics of Wood Saw Dust, Plastic Blend with and without Maleic Anhydride Compatibilizer

This research paper focuses on the wood sawdust and plastic blending with or without the anhydride compatibilizer. The plastic materials are non-biodegradable, and in such cases, the wastes destroy the environment by blocking drainages and destroying the city’s aesthetics. The machinery and lumbering equipment in the furniture industry are used to shape wood. The waste obtained from this process is the forest saw dust. The coupling agent is used to blend the two immiscible components, wood sawdust, and plastics. The blend does not lose the rheological and mechanical attributes of either of the ingredients used to form the mixture. On the contrary, it makes the new product very strong.

INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION
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COURSE ID & NAME
TITLE:
MECHANICAL AND RHEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOD SAW DUST,
PLASTIC BLEND WITH AND WITHOUT MALEIC ANHYDRIDE COMPATIBILIZER
STUDENT NAME
STUDENT ID NUMBER
PROFESSOR (LECTURER)
DATE OF SUBMISSION

ABSTRACT
There are some initiatives to recycle or reuse materials, making the environment cleaner
than it was some years back. The world is focusing on improving the environment safety in
every country. The wood plastic is a blend made up of wood sawdust and the recycled plastic.
Researchers have discovered ways to use the waste materials to come up with different
components which can be used as household or industrial parts. In this research paper, the
primary focus is on the wood sawdust and plastic blending with or without the anhydride
compatibilizer (Behravesh & Jam , 2009). The plastic materials are non-biodegradable, and in
such cases, the wastes destroy the environment by blocking drainages and destroying the city’s
aesthetics. The machinery and lumbering equipment in the furniture industry are used to shape
wood. The waste obtained from this process is the forest saw dust. The coupling agent is used to
blend the two immiscible components, wood sawdust, and plastics. The blend does not lose the
rheological and mechanical attributes of either of the ingredients used to form the mixture. On
the contrary, it makes the new product very strong.
Keywords: Recycling, compatibilizer, maleic anhydride, plastics (polypropylene), wood
sawdust, polymer blend.
INTRODUCTION
The world is focusing on improving
the environment safety in every country.
The wood plastic is a blend made up of
wood sawdust and the recycled plastic.
These two components, polypropylene, and
plastic undergo polymer blending. Polymers
are slowly gaining fame in the industry as a
new commodity. The standard procedure
used in the process of polymer blends is the
thermoplastic vulcanization, TPV.
Recycling and reuse of waste materials are
making the environment cleaner than it was
some years back. According to statistics on
the report generated by USEPA, about 8.25
million tons of plastic are collected in
Europe, another 246 million tons of solid
waste was obtained by the US municipal in
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the year 2005. On an annual basis, the UK
records up to 500,000 tons of waste plastics
that need recycling. Researchers have
discovered ways to use the waste materials
to come up with different components which
can be used as household or industrial
components (Irina, et al., 2016). In this
research paper, the primary focus is on the
wood sawdust and plastic blending with or
without the anhydride compatibilizer. A
compatibilizer is implemented during the
polymer blending to ensure that the
components being combined attain a good
adhesion within the polymers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Wood sawdust
The furniture industry is growing with new
trends and furniture designs from different
trees being modeled. The wood saw dust is a
by-product of the furniture. It is obtained in
varied particle sizes and needs to be sifted to
use the correct grain size for the polymer
blending. The machinery and lumbering
equipment in the furniture industry are used
to shape wood (Pascal , et al., 2003). The
waste obtained from this process is the
forest saw dust. Some of the attributes
required of the wood sawdust are that it
needs to have good absorbing properties,
proper chemical reactant, be abrasive, and
must act as a décor. During the polymer
blending, the physical attributes of the PLA
must be adjustable (Achmad, et al., 2014).
Plastic blend
Most of the food items and other products
are being packaged in plastic materials. The
plastic materials are non-biodegradable, and
in such cases, the wastes destroy the
environment by blocking drainages and
destroying the city’s aesthetics (Saeed, et al.,
2006). There are different classifications of
plastics internationally namely,
(i) Polypropylene
(ii) Polyethylene terephthalate
(iii) Polyvinyl chloride
(iv) Polyethylene
(v) Polystyrene
(vi) Polycarbonate (Lexan) and many
more.
The difference between the different types
of plastic is mainly based on the strength
and structure of the material which implies
its applications. For instance, the food
manufacturing industry uses the
polypropylene plastics which have high
thermal resistance and are clear (Arun, et al.,
2017). The material can easily be blended to
form other materials such as ropes, electric
kettles, and water drinking bottles. PET
plastics are generated during the stretching
of the polymers in different directions in
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heated form, and the result solidifies when
cooled. PVC is highly undesired as it
destroys the environment (Musa, et al.,
2015). It finds its application in water and
sewage waste pipes and plastic beams.
Many researchers have discovered that the
recycled plastics and virgin plastics possess
the same nature of mechanical properties.
These plastics are organic polymers of high
molecular mass and contains other
substances. Plastics are durable, and they
degrade slowly by slowly as the chemical
bonds that make the plastics quite resistant
to cellulose processes of degradation
(Badrina, et al., 2015).
Wood sawdust and plastic blend
compatibilizer
Previously done work and case studies on
the polymer blending propose that
developing wood sawdust and synthetic
blends can be achieved through the use of
proper blending agents. According to an
experiment carried out by Joyce Koran
Teng, the composites are prepared by using
coconut oil as the coupling agent, and wood
sawdust is implemented as a filler to the
already melted plastic. According to this
researcher, the physical and mechanical
properties of the elements used in blending
are investigated such that the experiments
are carried out based on particular levels of
matter (Irina, et al., 2017). The scanning
electron microscopy, SEM, is used to
inspect the fractured sample surfaces once
the flexural strength tests are carried out.
The experiment in this research was carried
out such that the ratio of wood sawdust to
plastic input was 50:50. The elements were
inspected to ensure that they were of good
particle size in the range of 90−355 μm. For
such a plastic blend, the increase in the
chemical matter in the mixture helped
improve the stiffness of the composites.
Adding more wood sawdust or fiber content
ensured enhance water absorption rates. The
combination was observed to have few or no
fiber pullouts and fewer voids. The wood
sawdust and plastic blend could find
application in the field of construction such
that the mix can form partitioning matter for
room separation.
To achieve the blend between the recycled
or virgin plastics and wood sawdust of the
required grain size, one needs to use a
compatibilizer to improve the adhesion of
the components. The merits associated with
the use of compatibilizers is that plastic
blends are achieved without altering the
essential rheological and mechanical
attributes of the virgin plastic. The method
of compatibilizers is cost-effective, and the
applications of the polymers attained are
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numerous. Some polymers are formed
without the use of anhydride compatibilizer.
This research paper seeks to analyze the two
cases and determine which is the most
effective. When the compatibilizer is used,
the maleic anhydride is used for the
blending process. It is an organic compound,
a product of the oxidation of the benzene
aromatic compounds. The maleic anhydride
is used in the blending process while it is in
its vaporized form. The attributes of the
anhydride are summarized as,
Parameter Value
Chemical name C4 H2 O3
Density 1.48 gm/ c m3
Melting point 52.80 C
The use of the organic compatibilizer
necessitates large-scale production. Some of
the commodities that are produced are such
as the pipes, tanks of different shapes, and
automobile fixtures. The anhydride is used
in its vapor form hence the appliances made
of it tend to be flammable. This research
paper recommends that they are used and
stored in dry and cold environments. It’s
crucial to highlight that the thermoplastics
are non-polar while the wood sawdust fibers
are polar. The polar substances tend to have
an affinity to absorb water and are referred
to as hydrophilic materials (Chatree, et al.,
2016). For such compounds to be blended
the chemical coupling agents are
implemented. As a result, it is crucial to
ensure the formation of the blend is attained
successfully.
METHODOLOGY
Procedure:
(i) The experiments discuss the
parameters before implementing
the polymer blending process:
one determines the different
applications of the products, the
temperature that the products can
stand, the size of the product, the
shape and structure of the
product, the atmospheric stability
of the product, and the type of
thermoplastics.
(ii) The wood fiber and the plastic
components are well pre-treated,
and some choices are made to
ensure that they obtain right
choice of wood sawdust and
matrix. The ratio of wood fiber to
total matrix weight as well as
determine the formation methods
at this stage.
(iii) The wood sawdust in the right
grain size is obtained and the
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plastic, either virgin or recycled
and processed using the maleic
anhydride. The coupling agent is
implemented in minimal amounts
such that the plastic to wood
fiber ratio is 50:50 with a
coupling agent of 10% weight.
(iv) The blend is made to go through
the experiment equipment known
as the extruder. The product is
passed through extremely high
temperatures.
(v) Several strength and structure
tests are carried out to ensure that
the final product yields the
required rheological and
mechanical properties as desired
by the designer.
(vi) The coupling agent used in the
experiment may be used on the
wood fiber and polymer in the
polymer formation process by
injection molding, extrusion, or
the transfer molding processes.
The results and discussion
section demonstrates these
results correctly.
The blend concentration for the experiment
was obtained as,
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
When the tensile tests were done
using the testing machine, there was an
average of five specimens are taken into
consideration. The results are plotted with
the stress-strain curve. Some of the errors
are human errors and mechanical errors
during testing and machine or equipment
faults. The wear and tear cause the
mechanical failures. The automated tests are
the tensile test, flexural tests, and impact
tests. Some of the polymer blends are
miscible while others are immiscible. The
immiscible ones tend to have unstable
thermodynamics which affects the
mechanical mixing. For the immiscible
blends, surfactants or emulsifiers are added
as the coupling agents. The coupling agents
enable the dispersion of one phase and help
improve the stability of the system.
Extrusion method
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Figure 1 Extrusion Machine
Injection method
Figure 2 injection method
The tensile test results were obtained as,
The experimental values of the wood plastic
components with the maleic anhydride
compatibilizer and virgin plastic matter,
CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
In a nutshell, the two components,
wood sawdust, and plastics have their
individual and independent structural
abilities. It is crucial that when they are
blended using the methods described in the
methodology, the product exhibits higher
stiffness and strength levels. The mechanical
properties of the new product or blends are
better than for the different individual
components. When the elements are not
bound by a maleic anhydride compatibilizer,
they tend to have lines of weaknesses, and
the product may not last long as it has a
higher water absorption rate. The use of the
anhydride in it vaporized form enables the
immiscible matter to blend and form a
sturdy structure.
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