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Abstract
Physical, mechanical, and fire properties of the injection-molded wood flour/polypropylene composites (WPCs) incorporated with different levels of boron compounds, borax/boric acid (BX/BA) (0.5:0.5 wt %) and zinc borate (ZB) (4, 8, or 12 wt %) were investigated. The effect of the coupling agent loading (2, 4, or 6 wt %), maleic anhydride-grafted PP (MAPP), on the properties of the WPCs was also investigated. Incorporation of the fire retardants (FRs) into the WPCs decreased the physical and mechanical properties as compared to the WPCs without FR. The FR treatments had little impact on the fire performance of the WPCs in the cone calorimeter tests. The WPCs containing the ZB showed better water resistance and strength values in the bending, tensile, and izod impact than the WPCs containing the BX/BA. The SEM-EDS micrographs revealed that the outer surface of the wood fibers was surrounded by some crystalline deposits of the FRs. This resulted in the poor compatibility between the wood and polymer matrix in the WPCs containing the FRs. With the addition of the MAPP up to 4 wt %, the water resistance and mechanical properties of the WPCs containing FRs up to 8 wt % improved. But the further increasing of the MAPP (6 wt %) did not improve the properties of the WPCs containing FR (12 wt %).
Keywords
Boron compounds,
fire retardants,
injection molding,
polypropylene,
polyethylene,
strength,
water resistance,
wood plastic composites,
composite materials,
fire testing,
mechanical properties,
wood-plastic composites,
plastic-impregnated wood,
polymerization,
injection molding of plastics,
thermoplastic composites,
plastics,
extrusion,
extrusion process,
thermal properties,
fire risk assessment,
maleic anhydride,
flame spread,
moisture,
crystallization,
boron,
borax,
boric acid,
heat of combustion,
strength,
polymers,
polymerization,
fire hazard,
fire resistance,
thermal degradation,
flammability,
zinc borate,
moisture content,
crystallinity,
coupling agents,
cone colorimetry,
ignition
Citation
Ayrilmis, Nadir; Akbulut, Turgay; Dundar, Turker; White, Robert H.; Mengeloglu, Fatih; Candan, Zeki; Buyuksari, Umit; Avci, Erkan. 2011. Effect of boron compounds on physical, mechanical, and fire properties of injection molded wood plastic composites. In: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on wood and biofiber plastic composites & nanotechnology in wood composites symposium, 2011 May 16-17, Madison, WI. Madison, WI : Forest Products Society, 2011: 21 p. [1 flash drive]
