Preparation and characterization of wood dust natural fiber re-enforced polymer composite

Abstract

Composites based on natural fiber reinforcement have generated wide research and engineering interest in the last few decades. This is mostly due to their high specific strength, low cost, low density, light weight and biodegradability and has earned a special category of green composite. In this study, wood dust reinforced composite were processed with 2wt%, 4wt%, 6wt%, 8wt%,10wt%, 12 wt.% and 14wt%. The tensile, impact, stress and strain tests were performed at different wt% to study the mechanical behavior of the composite. The result of the study showed that the mechanical properties decrease considerable up to 16.7 wt% wood dust contents. However, above 16.7 wt% there was no significant change to the overall mechanical properties of the composite, therefore yielding an advantage of cost saving.

Keywords: Composites; Polyvinylchloride; Mechanical Properties; Wood dust