Recycled Wood Plastic Composites as Floor Panels for Ship Containers

Within the framework of this study, we aim at the replacement of plywood as ship containers floor material, with a lighter and friendlier-to-rainforests composite material. Wood fibre-reinforced thermoPlastic Composites (WPC) were developed using double-screw extrusion, consisting of recycled waste wood fibres reinforcing recycled High Density PolyEthylene (HDPE) matrix. This shift to WPCs has the dual positive effect of containers freight reduction as well as elimination of the use of natural resources, radically contributing to climate change measures. Following international shipping standards for container flooring, high quality recycled WCPs were developed. HDPE was found to provide acceptable structural performance. To that respect, WPC blends of HDPE matrix reinforced with 30%, 40% and 50%wt wood fibre flour, were fabricated and subjected to 3 point-bending mechanical testing. It was found that the studied WPCs reveal mechanical performance adequate to qualify as replacements of plywood timber flooring in ship containers.