The Effect of Filler Content on Mechanical Properties of Wood Flour- Polypropylene Composites

In this study, the effect of the filler content on the mechanical properties of wood plastic composite made of wood flour and polypropylene was investigated. For this aim, the wood flour was mixed with polypropylene at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 percent by weight and 2 percent of MAPP was also used as the coupling agent in all formulatins. Then the wood plastic composites were manufactured in twin-screw extruder. The mechanical tests such as tensile, bending and notched impact were performed on the samples according to the ASTM standard. The results indicated that the filler content has affected significantly on the mechanical properties of wood polymer composite. The flextural strength, flextural modulus, tensile strength and tensile modulus were increased by increasing the wood flour from 10 to 50 percent by weight. However, the notched impact and elongation were reduced by the addition of the filler content.