The Effect of Climatic Conditions on Some Mechanical Properties of Wood-Plastic Composites

Abstract

It has become a necessity to conduct a study on the behaviors of widely used wood-plastic composite sheets in various application areas. This study was conducted to determine the effect of low temperatures on some technological properties of wood-plastic composites. For this purpose, Wood-Plastic Composite Sheets obtained from thermoplastic materials polypropylene and scots pine wood flour and MDF wastes were kept in climatic environment (-20 oC for 10 days) and the hardness, bending strength and modulus of elasticity were investigated. As a result, while the hardness values of the composites made from Scots pine wood has decreased after the climatic environment, the exact opposite values have been observed in MDF. The highest value in bending strength was observed in the composite produced from scots pine left in the climatic conditions. The highest values in the modulus of elasticity were determined in the composite sheets produced from MDF-used-fibres left in the climatic environment. According to this, the climatic environment has increased the bending strength and modulus of elasticity composite materials.