Study on Application of Modified Polyethylene in Preparation of Wood-Plastic Composites

The wood-plastic composites (WPC) were prepared via compress molding by using the blends of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and modified polyethylene (MAPE) as the matrix and wood flour (WF) as filler. The effect of MAPE content in the matrix on the mechanical properties of the matrix and WPC was investigated. It was shown that the change of MAPE content in the matrix had no influence on the tensile strength of the matrix, but markedly reduced the impact strength of the matrix. Additionally, it had significant influence on the strength of WPC. When the content of wood flour and the content of the matrix remained fixed, with increasing the content of MAPE in the matrix, the tensile strength and the flexural strength of WPC tended to increase rapidly initially and then become steady. Moreover, with the increasing of MAPE concentration, the impact strength of WPC decreased when the low content of wood flour (30%) was filled, but increased at high wood flour loading (70%).