Mechanical properties and creep behavior of liquefied wood polymer composites (LWPC)

The influence of liquefied wood (LW), melt index (MI) and polymer on the mechanical properties and creep behavior of liquefied wood-polymer composites (LWPC) was investigated in this study. Polymer and LW showed significant effects on the flexural strength properties. The increase of flexural MOE by the addition of 10% LW is related to the increase of stiffness of LWPC. High MI value help blend both liquefied wood and polymer during compounding process, thereby providing good dispersion of polymer. The maximum Young's modulus and tensile MOR values were also observed from PP with high MI with and without LW. The effects of polymer, MI, and LW were significant on Young's modulus and tensile MOR. The impact strength from HDPE and LDPE were obviously high, due to high flexibility. With the increased stress concentration by the poor bonding between LW and polymer, the impact strength of LWPC decreased, compared with that of virgin polymer. The instantaneous and maximum creep deflections at the 40% stress level were significantly higher than those at the 20% stress level. MI provided a significant effect on the creep. The addition of 10% LW showed no significant effect on the creep.