Mechanical Properties of Custom-Made Wood Plastic Composites

This report provides a comprehensive literature review on the mechanical properties of wood plastic composites (WPCs). It delves into material testing procedures, including melt flow catalogs and the examination of mechanical assets, with a focus on the impact of different plastic types and formulations. The report also explores the use of non-traditional materials in WPC construction, such as fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) and recycled plastics, highlighting their advantages and applications in the construction industry. It discusses relevant standards and codes, like Regulation (EU) No. 305/2011 and EN 1990 (EUROCODE 1), which are crucial for ensuring product performance and safety. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of appropriate compositions, processing parameters, and proper material testing in determining the mechanical properties of WPCs, making this a valuable resource for understanding and improving WPC manufacturing processes.

Running head: Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
Investigation of Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
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1Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review:...........................................................................................................................2
Material Testing and relevant standards:.....................................................................................2
Use of nontraditional materials in construction of WPCs:..........................................................3
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................6

2Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
Introduction:
Wood plastic mixtures are defined to be as the form of composite that are formed by
combining the wood based elements with that of the polymers. The entire process of
manufacturing the wood plastic composites includes methods like extrusion, injection,
compression or thermoforming of molding that gets fused with the modeling layer and laser
sintering. The following report is prepared so as to perform a literature review based on the topic
covering areas such as material testing and use of nontraditional materials in construction.
Literature Review:
Material Testing and relevant standards:
According to Friedrich and Luible (2016), the use of bio based ingredients such as
composites of wood plastic have added a lot more interest in the manufacturing industry. The
novel composites that are utilized within the process are used in the process of decking and
cladding (Dimitriou, Hale and Spear 2016). All the varieties of Wood plastic composites are
made to go through a series of material testing procedures including compounding and injection
of molding based on various formulations. The various formulas that are used within the process
of material testing depends on the type of plastic that is used including PP or polypropylene and
also on the form of the plastic such s recycled on virgin (Guo et al. 2016). The material testing
process of wood plastic composite also comprises of melt flow catalog where the mechanical
assets of the WPCs get examined. After successful completion of the material testing the
recycled PP are used to yield a stable and strong WPCs.
Various researches have also being conducted in few experiments so as to test the
thermal, manufacturing and mechanical properties of WPCs. In the process of thermal testing,

3Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
temperature plays as an important factor affecting the material property of the composite. The
testing of temperature results in increase in the stress level while decreasing the tension and
compression of the material. In case of mechanical property testing, the addition of wood in the
mixture of the composite results in the increase of the tensile strength as well as flexural strength
of the final products.
The development process of bio based plastics including the process of cladding requires
to follow some relevant standards and codes. Regulation (EU) No. 305/2011 is determined to be
one of the standard that stipulates that every product must meet all the requirements for
providing mechanical resistance and stability along with safety of the product. All these
requirements are formulated and verified according to the standard of EN 1990 (EUROCODE 1).
Abiding by this standard thus it is very much necessary to ensure that the products that are
formed during the manufacturing process perform adequately under wind loads.
Use of nontraditional materials in construction of WPCs:
According to Chen, Teng and Wu (2017), Fiber reinforced polymer or FRP is one of the
kind of non-traditional material that is used in the construction process of WPCs. It is mainly
regarded as a type of composite material mainly made up of polymer matrix while reinforced
with fibers (Matuana and Stark 2015). The fibers that are used in this process are mainly glasses,
carbon or even aramid. This type of polymer is mainly used as an epoxy or polyester. Their
application can be seen in fields of aerospace, marine as well as construction industries. Fiber
reinforced polymers or FRP are composites that are used in almost every type of engineering
structures (Akbas et al. 2016). One of the driving factor that is responsible for the increased
application of the use of non-traditional composites is due to the growth of the advanced form of
the FRP resources. This includes improvement of high performance resin systems along with

4Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
new classes of reinforcement such as nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. Among numerous
researches that are carried out the application of the FRP reinforcements to the concrete based
structures are the most studied one. Using the FRP materials in the construction process offers a
number of advantages such s providing high tensile strength, easy handing as well as light weight
properties of the WPCs.
Among the use of non-traditional materials in the construction process, the use of
reprocessed plastics in the wood plastic mixtures is another notable factor. The use of recycled
waste materials is considered as the most innovative way to produce wood plastic composites as
they have the potential resulting in manufacturing of WPCs in an effective manner (Kodur,
Naser and Bhatt 2017). The accelerated use of weathering, freezing thaw cycle on the process of
manufacturing wood plastic composites are extruded from the process of plastic recycling. In
order to use the recycled plastics within the process of manufacturing WPCs, it is essentially
required to know the possessions of recycled plastics along with the process of manufacturing
the WPCs while establishing a relation between the belongings of recycled plastics and the
mechanical aspects of the WPCs products (Turku et al. 2017). The recycling activity that is
carried out in the industrial process of wood plastic composite potentially reduces the
development of the interface of the wood while causing constant decay in the cellulose and
thermoplastics.
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded from the above report that wood plastic composites are one of
the best specimens that gets fabricated in shapes to relevant structures and the role of the use of
appropriate compositions and processing parameters plays an significant role to determine the
mechanical properties of the wooden plastic composite. Thus it is essential to carry out proper

5Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
material testing while maintaining the suitable relevant regulations within its manufacturing
process along with making use of the suitable nontraditional materials within the construction
process of the WPCs.

6Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
References:
Akbas, s., temiz, a., gezer, e.d. and demirel, g.k., 2016, october. Evaluation opportunities of
impregnated products containing creosote that completed the service life in wood plastic
composites (wpcs): surface changes under accelerated weathering. In iind international furniture
congress (p. 386).
Chen, J., Teng, Z. and Wu, J., 2017. Recycling of waste FRP and corn straw in wood plastic
composite. Polymer Composites, 38(10), pp.2140-2145.
Dimitriou, A., Hale, M.D. and Spear, M.J., 2016. The effect of four methods of surface
activation for improved adhesion of wood polymer composites (WPCs). International Journal of
Adhesion and Adhesives, 68, pp.188-194.
Friedrich, D. and Luible, A., 2016. Standard-compliant development of a design value for wood–
plastic composite cladding: An application-oriented perspective. Case Studies in Structural
Engineering, 5, pp.13-17.
Guo, X., Cao, J., Peng, Y. and Liu, R., 2016. Incorporation of microencapsulated dodecanol into
wood flour/high-density polyethylene composite as a phase change material for thermal energy
storage. Materials & Design, 89, pp.1325-1334.
Kodur, V.K.R., Naser, M.Z. and Bhatt, P.P., 2017. Emerging Construction Materials for Energy
Infrastructure. In Energy Engineering (pp. 113-122). Springer, Singapore.
Matuana, L.M. and Stark, N.M., 2015. The use of wood fibers as reinforcements in composites.
In Biofiber reinforcements in composite materials (pp. 648-688). Woodhead Publishing.

7Mechanical Properties of custom made Wood Plastic Composite
Turku, I., Keskisaari, A., Kärki, T., Puurtinen, A. and Marttila, P., 2017. Characterization of
wood plastic composites manufactured from recycled plastic blends. Composite Structures, 161,
pp.469-476.