Waste Management 29 (2009) 1291–1295

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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Characteristics of wood–fiber plastic composites made of recycled materials

Alireza Ashori a,*, Amir Nourbakhsh b
a
Department of Chemical Industries, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), P.O. Box 15815-3538, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Wood and Paper Science, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (RIFR), Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study investigates the feasibility of using recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE), polypropylene
Accepted 22 September 2008 (rPP) and old newspaper (rONP) fiber to manufacture experimental composite panels. The panels were
Available online 24 January 2009 made through air-forming and hot press. The effects of the fiber and coupling agent concentration on ten-
sile, flexural, internal bond properties and water absorption and thickness swelling of wood–fiber plastic
composites were studied. The use of maleated polypropylene as coupling agent improved the compati-
bility between the fiber and both plastic matrices and mechanical properties of the resultant composites
compared well with those of non-coupled ones. Based on the findings in this work, it appears that recy-
cled materials can be used to manufacture value-added panels without having any significant adverse
influence on board properties. It was also found that composites with rHDPE provided moderately supe-
rior properties, compared with rPP samples.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction waste materials. Data are available for the total weight and per-
centage of certain MSW streams in Tehran (capital of Iran). In
Generation of solid and industrial wastes is increasing at an 2006, approximately 84,200 tons of MSW was generated in Tehran
alarming rate. It is difficult to dispose of the growing volume of by the population of 7.728 million, that is, about 1.1 kg of waste
municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills because most people will was generated per capita per day (Ashori, 2008a).
not tolerate MSW in their neighborhood. Today, MSW is one of the Paper and paperboard and plastics account for an increasing
greatest issues facing mankind. Several countries have made fraction of MSW in Tehran, as well as around the world. In 2006,
efforts to solve this issue by trying to recycle waste materials the amount of paper and paperboard and plastics in MSW reached
(Pattanakul et al., 1991; La Mantia, 2002; Jayaraman and Bhattach- 18,600 and 9,400 tons, comprising 22.1% and 11.2% of the waste
_
arya, 2004; Kamdem et al., 2004; Talavera et al., 2007; Zenkiewicz stream by weight, respectively (Table 1). Of the plastics, high den-
and Dzwonkowski, 2007; Cui et al., 2008). sity polyethylene (HDPE) plus polypropylene (PP) is the largest
The possibility of using MSW in the development of composites component, followed by polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polysty-
is very attractive, especially with respect to the large quantity of rene (PS) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). A substantial
plastic waste generated daily. Hence, the development of new amount of polyolefins, especially plastic bottles and rigid contain-
value added products, to utilize the recovered plastics, is assuming ers, can potentially be recovered for recycling. Plastic products
greater importance. The addition of recycled wood fibers to waste used for packaging are often discarded after a single use, resulting
plastics renders the resulting composites viable from both the in a large supply of waste polymeric materials. Most single poly-
mechanical properties and the environmental points of view. Be- mer plastics made from petroleum are relatively easy to recycle.
sides, bio-composite products may be reclaimed and recycled for Therefore, with an efficient collection, separation and recycling
the production of second-generation composites. system, discarded plastics can be recycled into new products with
Iran’s basic approach to MSW is: (1) waste prevention and min- only the addition of energy. Properties of some waste plastics are
imization, (2) promotion of recycling and (3) environmentally similar to those made from virgin materials, with tests indicating
sound final disposal. The generation of waste is controlled at only a slight change in mechanical properties of recycled polyeth-
source by households and business enterprises where the waste ylene (Jayaraman and Bhattacharya, 2004). Products manufactured
originates. Recyclable components of such waste are disposed of from waste plastics are increasing and include wood plastic com-
separately to facilitate recycling. The data in Table 1 include all posites (WPCs) (La Mantia, 2002; Kamdem et al., 2004). WPCs with
the domestic residential waste products but not all the industrial recycled wood fiber/flour have also gained popularity due to the
low cost of recycled wood to the manufacturers (Ashori, 2008b).
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 21 88838337. The possibility of using recycled materials in the development
E-mail address: ashori@irost.ir (A. Ashori). of composites is very attractive, especially with respect to the large

0956-053X/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.09.012
1292 A. Ashori, A. Nourbakhsh / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1291–1295

Table 1 were not treated with MAPP. A series of composites having 55,
Composition of materials in Tehran (Iran) municipal solid waste in 2006 70 and 85 wt% of fibers were prepared. The fibers and matrix poly-
Source Amount in municipal solid waste mers were blended using a laboratory-scale air-mixing process.
Weight (103 t) Percentage The mixtures were then placed in a rectangular mold box with a
size of 36  31 cm2 and manually formed. A manually controlled,
Dried bread 35.5 42.1
Paper and paperboard 18.6 22.1
hot-press (Burkle L100) was used to press the panels at 190 °C
Miscellaneous inorganic 11.1 13.2 for 6 min at a maximum pressure of 3 MPa. The panels were then
Plastics 9.4 11.2 cooled in the press for an additional 6 min until they reached a
Metals 7.6 9.0 final temperature of 36 °C. Teflon films were used to avoid the
Glass 1.4 1.7
adhesion of MAPP to the stainless surface of the mold. All panels
Textiles 0.6 0.7
Total 84.2 100 were trimmed to 32  27 cm2, with a density of 0.85 g/cm3 and
thickness of 3.2 mm.
Source: Ashori (2008a).

2.3. Measurements

quantity of wood fiber/plastic waste generated daily. Wastepaper 2.3.1. Mechanical properties
can meet all the requirements in order to replace inorganic fillers All mechanical tests were performed according to standard test-
in thermoplastic composites. Advantages associated with bio-com- ing methods as following:
posite products include lighter weight and improved acoustic, im-
pact, and heat reformability properties – all at a cost less than that  Tensile strength and modulus, ASTM D 638.
of comparable products made from plastics alone. In addition,  Flexural strength and modulus, ASTM D 790.
these composites may possibly be reclaimed and recycled for the  Internal bond strength, ASTM D 5651.
production of second-generation composites. MSW generated each
year contains potentially useful and recyclable materials for com- For these tests, the Instron universal testing equipment (Model
posites. Interest is high for the use of MSW in composites, thus pro- 1186) was used, where a load was applied on the specimen with a
viding cost and environmental benefits. strain rate of 1.5 mm/min. The internal bond test method is a mea-
A relatively large body of published literature in the area of vir- sure of the cohesive bond strength of the fibers on the surface of
gin fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites exists (Nabi Saheb wood-base composite in the direction perpendicular to the plane
and Jog, 1999; Lundin et al., 2004; Foulk et al., 2004; Selke and of the board. Test specimen dimensions were in accordance with
Wichman, 2004; Herrera-Franco and Valadez-Gonzalez, 2005; the respective ASTM standards. Each value obtained represented
Ashori and Nourbakhsh, 2008a). These studies have successfully the average of six samples. All tests were conducted under con-
proven their applicability to various fields of technical applications, trolled conditions (50% relative humidity and 23 °C).
especially for load-bearing applications. However, work done on
recycled plastic/wood fiber systems is still limited. In this work, 2.3.2. Dimensional stability tests
the potential of using recycled wood fiber and plastics as materials The thickness swelling and water absorption tests were con-
for making WPCs was examined. The effect of fiber loading and ducted in accordance with ASTM D 570. Before testing, the weight
coupling agent addition on the mechanical properties and dimen- and dimensions, i.e., length, width and thickness, of each specimen
sional stability was also investigated. were measured. Conditioned samples of each type of composite
were either soaked in distilled water at room temperature for 2 h
2. Methods or boiled in water for 2 h. Samples were removed from the water,
patted dry and then measured again. Each value obtained repre-
2.1. Materials sented the average of six samples. Water absorption was calculated
according to the following equation:
Fibers: The lignocellulosic material for this study was recycled
WAð%Þ ¼ 100ðM 2  M 1 Þ=M1 ð1Þ
old newsprint (rONP) fibers. The characteristics of rONP were
determined following the standards outlined in the TAPPI Test where WA is the water absorption in percentage, and M1 and M2 are
Methods (2002). The chemical and morphological characteristics the sample weights before and after immersion (g). The values
of the rONP were as follows: cellulose 70.2 ± 2.1%, lignin of the thickness swelling (TS) in percentage were calculated using
22 ± 1.6%, extractives (hot water) 4.5 ± 0.7%, ash 1.8 ± 0.2%, fiber the following equation:
length 0.92 ± 0.11 mm, fiber width 26.9 ± 3.2 lm and aspect ratio TSð%Þ ¼ 100ðT 2  T 1 Þ=T 1 ð2Þ
82.2 ± 5.8.
Polymer matrix: Polymers used for making composites were where T1 is the initial thickness of the sample and T2 is the thickness
post-consumer recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and of the wetted sample.
polypropylene (rPP) in the form of powder. The rHDPE and rPP
have melt flow indices of 15 and 7 g/10 min at 190 °C and densities 3. Results and discussion
of 0.95–0.97 and 0.90 g/cm3, respectively.
Coupling agent: Maleated polypropylene (MAPP) was obtained 3.1. Tensile properties
from Eastman Chemical Products, Inc., in the form of Epolene G-
3003 , which has an acid number of 8 and a molecular weight of
TM
Results for the tensile strength and tensile modulus of compos-
103,500. ites as a function of MAPP and fiber content are presented in Figs. 1
and 2, respectively. As can be seen, performance of composites
2.2. Panel manufacturing made from rHDPE was at least as good as that of composites made
from rPP, except for 70 wt% fiber loading, where rPP was signifi-
The rONP fibers at an initial moisture content (MC) of 4% were cantly stronger.
sprayed with 40% solids content MAPP anionic emulsion to achieve In order to evaluate the effectiveness of fiber loading on
MAPP levels of 2% and 4% (dry weight basis). The control boards strength behavior of composites, they have been compared with
 A. Ashori, A. Nourbakhsh / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1291–1295 1293

17 27
rPP rHDPE

Flexural strength (MPa)

Tensile strength (MPa)

14 24

11 21

8 18

5 15
rPP rHDPE
2 12
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85% rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85%
MAPP content (%) MAPP content (%)

Fig. 1. Comparisons of tensile strength properties of the rPP and rHDPE. Fig. 3. Comparisons of flexural strength properties of the rPP and rHDPE.

750
rPP rHDPE 2250
Tensile modulus (MPa)

670

Flexural modulus (MPa)

2000
590
1750
510
1500
430
1250
350 rPP rHDPE
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 1000
rONP 55% rONP 70% 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
rONP 85%
rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85%
MAPP content (%)
MAPP content (%)
Fig. 2. Comparisons of tensile modulus properties of the rPP and rHDPE.
Fig. 4. Comparisons of flexural modulus properties of the rPP and rHDPE.

various coupling agent contents. When comparing the tensile

properties of the materials, the 55 wt% samples performed signifi- the matrix and fiber, which leads to more uniform distribution of
cantly better (higher) than the other samples. The tensile strength applied stress and requires more energy for fiber debonding (Nour-
markedly decreased with increasing fiber content by creating poor bakhsh et al., 2008).
interfacial bonding among hydrophilic filler, coupling agent and
hydrophobic matrix polymer. The decrease in tensile strength is 3.3. Internal bonding strength
governed by the fact that the rONP fibers with 70% and 85% con-
centrations need more coupling agent in order to improve the As can be derived from Fig. 5, composites with high rONP fiber
bonding strength between the fiber and the matrix polymer. In content possess low internal bonding strength. Wood fiber is a
general, composites made from 4% MAPP exhibited improved kind of stiff organic filler, so adding fiber could decrease the inter-
strength properties because they created more fiber-MAPP-plastics nal bonding strength of the composite. In agreement with previous
contact and therefore increased the potential for bonding. It is clear research efforts (Yang et al., 2007; Nourbakhsh and Ashori, 2008),
that, to improve the reinforcing effect of fiber, the presence of cou- the internal bonding strength of the composites increased with
pling agent is vital. In addition, various parameters influence the increasing coupling agent (Fig. 5). The internal bonding strength
mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composites including increases with MAPP content from 0.07 to 0.61 MPa; whereas,
the fiber aspect ratio, fiber–matrix adhesion, stress transfer at the without coupling agent, the internal bonding strength of the com-
interface and mixing temperatures (Ashori and Nourbakhsh, posites are in the range of 0.06–0.42 MPa at the same fiber loading.
2008b).

3.2. Flexural behavior 1

rPP rHDPE
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the results of the flexural tests conducted 0.8
Internal Bond (MPa)

on the composite specimens with and without coupling agent

treatment. From these figures, the benefit of the rONP fiber rein- 0.6
forced thermoplastics is readily apparent. Flexural strength and
modulus reached the maximum value at 85 and 4 wt% of fiber 0.4

and MAPP content, respectively. However, the addition of 2 and

0.2
4 wt% MAPP to the polymer matrix significantly improved the flex-
ural properties of composites as compared to 0 wt% of coupling
0
agent. As expected, the composites with high fiber content and
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
treated with MAPP exhibited better flexural strength than the un- rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85%
treated ones. The improvement in flexural properties of the com-
MAPP content (%)
posites can be attributed to high strength and modulus of
cellulosic fibers and the improved interfacial adhesion between Fig. 5. Comparisons of internal bond of the rPP and rHDPE.
1294 A. Ashori, A. Nourbakhsh / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1291–1295

The maximum internal bonding strength was in panels with 55 45

wt% fiber and 4 wt% MAPP. However, internal bonding values for rPP rHDPE

Thickness swelling (MPa)

panels with different amounts of fiber were not significantly differ- 37
ent from each other. It was found that composites with 4 wt%
MAPP provided significantly higher internal bonding, compared 29

with uncoupled samples. As mentioned before, the use of MAPP

21
improves interaction and adhesion between the fibers and matrix.
13
3.4. Water absorption
5
Water sensitivity is an important criterion for many practical 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
applications of WPC products. Figs. 6 and 7 show the water absorp- rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85%
tion percentages for the composites, which vary depending upon MAPP content (%)
the fiber loading and coupling agent content. The water absorption
Fig. 8. Comparisons of thickness swelling properties (2-h) of the rPP and rHDPE.
increases with increasing fiber content in the composites – a trend
that is true for both (room and boiling) temperatures. However, the
weight gains for the 2-h boil specimens were higher.
It is believed that polymers do slightly absorb moisture, indicat-
45
ing that moisture is absorbed by the lignocellulosic fibers in the
composite. With the increase in the fiber content, there are more

Thickness swelling (MPa)

37
water residence sites and thus more water is absorbed. Addition-
ally, the large number of porous tubular structures present in fiber 29
accelerates the penetration of water by the so-called capillary ac-
tion. Similar results have been published by Wichman et al. 21
(1993), who studied the influence of MC on fiber/matrix adhesion
for HDPE/pine composites by SEM observations, using scanning 13
electron microscopy. Water absorption in a fibrous composite is rPP rHDPE
dependent on temperature, fiber loading, orientation of fibers, per- 5
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
meability of fibers, surface protection, area of the exposed surfaces,
rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85%
diffusivity, void content, hydrophilicity of the individual compo-
MAPP content (%)
nents, etc.
Fig. 9. Comparisons of thickness swelling properties (2-h boiling) of the rPP and
rHDPE.

120
rPP rHDPE
3.5. Thickness swelling
100
Water absorption (%)

The thickness swelling of the rHDPE and rPP composites in-

80
creases with the water absorption and thus has a similar trend to
60
the water absorption regarding the impacts of rONP fiber to plas-
tics ratio and coupling agent (Figs. 8 and 9). When the coupling
40 agent increases, the bonding of fiber and matrix increases and de-
creases the absorption of water by fibers. If the water absorption
20 decreases, the thickness swelling decreases. For rHDPE composites,
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4 the thickness swelling values at room temperature varied from 7.4
rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85% to 36.3%, and these values are increased after 2-h boiling immer-
MAPP content (%) sion, varying from 13.2 to 37.2%. Interestingly the composites
made of rHDPE have lower thickness swelling compared to those
Fig. 6. Comparisons of water absorption properties (2-h) of the rPP and rHDPE.
made of rPP at the same fiber/MAPP content. It is also noted that
samples made with a lower content of fiber have lower thickness
swelling; this is true both for the composites made from rHDPE
165 and those made from rPP. However, the addition of MAPP reduced
rPP rHDPE thickness swelling for the same fiber content. The composites with
140 55 wt% of rONP fiber and 2 and 4 wt% MAPP had the lowest thick-
Water absorption (%)

ness swelling at both temperatures.

115 Thickness swelling and water absorption could easily be con-
trolled by adding water repellent chemicals in production. Also
90 heat treatment of fiber is known to enhance the dimensional sta-
bility of the panels.
65

4. Conclusions
40
0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 4
rONP 55% rONP 70% rONP 85% In this study, WPCs were made from both rHDPE and rPP with
different amounts of rONP fiber and MAPP content. The physical
MAPP content (%)
and mechanical properties, important for products and their utili-
Fig. 7. Comparisons of water absorption (2-h boiling) of the rPP and rHDPE. zation, were investigated for the effects of coupling, fiber loading
 A. Ashori, A. Nourbakhsh / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1291–1295 1295

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fiber and recycled polyethylene composites. Polymers and the Environment 12
current work.
(3), 165–171.
Results indicate that the mechanical properties of the compos- Herrera-Franco, P.J., Valadez-Gonzalez, A., 2005. A study of the mechanical
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cases, better than the composites made from rPP. The composites (8), 597–608.
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