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Characterization of wood‐filled thermoplastic polyurethanes for the injection molding process
Author(s) -
Moritzer Elmar,
Richters Maximilian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.50968
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , polypropylene , thermoplastic , fiber , absorption of water , polyethylene , molding (decorative) , swelling , viscosity , low density polyethylene
Abstract Fiber fillings of wood plastic composites (WPC) are almost exclusively limited to standard plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene. At the Kunststofftechnik Paderborn of the University of Paderborn the wood fiber filling of engineering plastics is being promoted. WPC with different fiber types and fiber contents based on two thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) were compounded and subsequently characterized. We found that the physicochemical properties of the materials differ from standard plastic‐based WPC. Wood filling with increasing fiber content did not immediately correlate with an increase in density. A decrease in density and swelling of the compound was detected with reaching a critical fiber content. Our compounds showed an increased water absorption at high‐fiber contents over time, which can be described logarithmically. The observed viscosity curves obey the Ostwald and de Waele power law, but an increased viscosity at increased fiber content was not apparent for both TPU matrices.