Novel process development in post-forming of an extruded wood plastic composite sheet
Matthews, Sami (2017-04-07)
Väitöskirja
Matthews, Sami
07.04.2017
Lappeenranta University of Technology
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-064-9
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-064-9
Tiivistelmä
The demand for the utilization of plastic waste has increased due to the tightening
environmental legislation and interest in material recycling. Wood plastic composites are
one possible way to recycle thermoplastic materials, as they have desirable material
properties for many applications. However, due to technical restrictions and lack of
knowledge, the product geometries have been mainly limited to extruded twodimensional
profiles.
In this work, the development of post-processing and line development methodology for
an extruded thermoplastic wood plastic composite is investigated to enable the production
of more complex shapes. The aim of the work is to investigate and recognize the major
factors affecting the post-processing of the composite material by utilizing the press
forming technique, and to develop a practical prototype line based on these observations
and findings.
Several experiments are done to investigate the most influential material properties and
parameters of one interesting thermoplastic composite material. In this process, the main
challenge in acquiring satisfactory quality of a complex product is uniform temperature
control of the process and the adhesion properties of the composite material.
The results show that the quality of extruded, press-formed thermoplastic wood plastic
composite products can be satisfactory and suitable for mass production, if right
parameters are selected for the machine construction, and the process temperature is
monitored and controlled. It is also shown that the mechanical post-processing stage can
decrease material variation and thus improve the quality of the extruded sheets. However,
the material fabrication stage is still in a great role for determining the final product
quality. Utilizing the method presented in this work makes it possible to develop post-processing lines for other wood plastic composites and analogical materials.
environmental legislation and interest in material recycling. Wood plastic composites are
one possible way to recycle thermoplastic materials, as they have desirable material
properties for many applications. However, due to technical restrictions and lack of
knowledge, the product geometries have been mainly limited to extruded twodimensional
profiles.
In this work, the development of post-processing and line development methodology for
an extruded thermoplastic wood plastic composite is investigated to enable the production
of more complex shapes. The aim of the work is to investigate and recognize the major
factors affecting the post-processing of the composite material by utilizing the press
forming technique, and to develop a practical prototype line based on these observations
and findings.
Several experiments are done to investigate the most influential material properties and
parameters of one interesting thermoplastic composite material. In this process, the main
challenge in acquiring satisfactory quality of a complex product is uniform temperature
control of the process and the adhesion properties of the composite material.
The results show that the quality of extruded, press-formed thermoplastic wood plastic
composite products can be satisfactory and suitable for mass production, if right
parameters are selected for the machine construction, and the process temperature is
monitored and controlled. It is also shown that the mechanical post-processing stage can
decrease material variation and thus improve the quality of the extruded sheets. However,
the material fabrication stage is still in a great role for determining the final product
quality. Utilizing the method presented in this work makes it possible to develop post-processing lines for other wood plastic composites and analogical materials.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1036]