Recovery of wood dust in composite materials

This work compares the influence of different thermoplastic polymer/waste wood dust ratios on the mechanical and thermal properties of composite materials. Moreover, the effect of a coupling agent incorporation, namely Maleic Anhydride Polypropylene (MAPP), to promote better adhesion between both components, on these properties was evaluated. The composite materials were obtained by compression moulding process, and subsequently characterized through mechanical and thermal tests. The experimental results show that the waste wood dust has the capacity to reinforce the thermoplastic polymer used, PP (polypropylene), allowing better mechanical properties, such as Young's and flexural modulus, to 2808 MPa and 1739 MPa, respectively. The 2% MAPP incorporation leads to an even higher increase of the mechanical properties. These results allow to conclude that the increase of wood dust can increase the mechanical properties of the PP composites, and the MAPP incorporation contributes to the better compatibility between both materials, increasing also these properties.