Flow Behavior of HDPE-Fine Wood Particles Composites

ABSTRACT: This study presents an experimental investigation on the flow behavior of the composites of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and very fine wood particles (smaller than 50mm). Knowledge of the flow behavior can give insight into the processability of these composites especially in injection molding process. Complex modulus, melt flow index (MFI), and flow length are measured for composites containing 40–70wt % wood particles. The results indicate that notice-able increase is observed for all measured properties upon increasing the wood content; however this change is very significant for MFI. Thus, for this study, composites having fine wood particles content above 60wt % can be considered as the highly filled composites. KEY WORDS: wood plastic composites, dynamic viscoelastic properties, melt flow index, fine wood particles