Development and Prospect of the hottest plastic wo

The development and Prospect of plastic wood composites

I. the development of plastic wood composites

plastic wood composites (WPC) is a modified thermoplastic material filled and reinforced with wood fibers or plant fibers. It has the advantages of the cost and performance of wood and plastics. It is extruded or pressed into profiles, plates or other products to replace wood and plastics. Wood fiber plastic mixtures have been studied for more than 80 years, but they have not been industrialized. About 15 years ago, a small amount of them were used in low value sound-absorbing products. Due to the strengthening of environmental concepts, the U.S. construction industry is looking for alternative materials like wood (non corrosive, non warping, convenient maintenance, and appearance similar to wood). In order to find the application of sawdust and sawdust, the paper and wood processing plants in South Korea and Japan have promoted and accelerated the research and application development of plastic wood materials. The description of the fixture in gb13022 (9) 1 "test method for tensile properties of plastic film" is that the experimental machine should be equipped with appropriate fixtures, and processing powder filling mixture into building and structural profiles is one of the most active fields in the extrusion industry at present, and new application development is also emerging in endlessly. Many countries have invested in accelerating the pace of development and application, especially the production of profiles, which is known as a "hot" market

Farrel company, a famous plastic mixer manufacturer in the United States, believes that the development of plastic wood composites is the result of increasing attention to environmental issues. Industry consultants believe that the driving force for the development of plastic wood composites comes from the requirements of rational utilization of the earth's limited resources, reducing the consumption of raw wood, protecting forests, and recycling old wood flour and plastics. Wood fiber and plant fiber are rich in sources, cheap, light in quality, with little wear on the equipment, the oil cylinder will gradually drop, with good dimensional stability, excellent electrical insulation, non-toxic, can be processed repeatedly, and can be biodegradable. Wood fibers include waste wood powder, shavings, sawn wood, and plant fibers are crushed rice stalks, peanut shells, coconut shells, sugarcane, flax, zema, jute, marijuana, etc. Thermoplastics are mainly polyolefins such as PE, PP, PS and PVC, including new materials, recycled materials and their mixtures

China's wood resources are not rich, reserves are small, and the output can not meet the market demand. In addition, since February 1998, the United States, Canada and European Union countries have successively implemented new quarantine standards for wood packaging materials of China's export goods, requiring fumigation or high-temperature disinfection, otherwise they will be refused entry. Resource constraints, market changes and environmental protection requirements promote the development of plastic wood composite products represented by plastic wood profiles as packaging pallets in China

II. Properties of plastic wood composites

wood fiber and plant fiber were originally used as modified filling materials with low cost and improved plastic rigidity. Plastic wood composite plastic can make full use of resources and can be recycled. Whether the materials can be recycled has become an important consideration in material selection in industry, so the prospect of plastic wood composites is promising

the main characteristics of plastic wood composites can be summarized as follows: durable, long service life, similar to wood appearance, higher hardness than plastic; It has excellent physical properties, better dimensional stability than wood, no cracks, warpage, no wood knots, twills, and can be made into colorful products by adding colorants, laminations, or composite surfaces; It has the processability of thermoplastic and is easy to form. It can be formed and processed with general plastic processing equipment or after a little transformation. The new investment of processing equipment is less, which is convenient for popularization and application; It has the secondary processability similar to wood, can be cut, bonded, connected and fixed with nails or bolts, and can be painted. The product specification and shape can be adjusted according to user requirements, with great flexibility; It is not afraid of insects, aging resistance, corrosion resistance, small water absorption, and will not absorb moisture and deform; It can be reused and recycled, including food and beverages, and is environmentally friendly; Low maintenance costs

the disadvantage of plastic wood composites is that the toughness is lower than that of the parent plastic, and the processing equipment, downstream devices and molds need to be adjusted and transformed accordingly

III. application of plastic wood composites

North America is currently the largest market for plastic wood composites in the world. Pricipiapa rtners consulting company of the United States pointed out that in 2001, the consumption of North American market alone reached 320000 tons. It is expected that the demand will increase at a double-digit rate before 2005, and the consumption in 2005 will double that in 2001. Among them, the consumption of planking (including platform, road slab, platform and pad) accounts for more than 60% of the total consumption. In addition to planking, there are also wall panels, ceilings, decorative panels, toe boards, wallboards, highway noise barriers, seaside flooring, building templates, moisture-proof boards, and plastic wood composite boards can be used. In addition, it can also be used for decorative frames, fences and garden handrails, packing pads and composite pallets, as well as furniture (including outdoor tables and chairs), ship cabin partitions, office partitions, storage boxes, flower boxes, movable shelves, drapery boards, louvers, etc

strandex pointed out that because plastic wood composites are environmentally friendly materials, although the current consumption in Europe is small, because processing plants are worried that the European community will effectively limit the use of PVC in the form of regulations, it is a huge market and opportunity to adopt computers to carry out the experimental process and the dynamic display of experimental curves to replace PVC window frames with plastic wood window frames. Therefore, some people believe that the substitution of wood plastic products for PVC and other plastic products will grow as fast as the substitution of plastic products for wood products in the past

in a word, plastic wood composite is a promising environmental protection material, and its processing technology has become increasingly mature and diversified