Influence of wood flour moisture content on the degree of silane-crosslinking and its relationship to structure–property relations of wood–thermoplastic composites

The objective of this work was to examine how the moisture content of wood flour affects the degree of crosslinking when producing silane-crosslinked wood–thermoplastic composites. Crosslinked composites were produced by adding a silane solution to the compounding process of wood flour and polyethylene. Crosslinked composites of pre-dried as well as non-dried wood flour were prepared and their degree of crosslinking at various storage conditions was determined. Mechanical properties and the creep response of the crosslinked composites were tested in order to establish structure–properties relations. The results showed that all crosslinked composites displayed higher strengths and lower creep responses compared with non-crosslinked control samples. However, the degree and rate of crosslinking proved to be lower when a larger amount of moisture was present in the compounding process. It was concluded that the silane-grafting yield was lower when wood flour of a higher moisture content was used.