Effect of the additive amount of limestone powder on preparation and mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene-based WPC

Abstract

To reduce the cost and improve the performance of wood plastic composite (WPC), the use of mineralfillers is necessary. In this paper, the effect of the additive amount of limestone powder on preparation and mechanical properties of recycled polyethylene-based WPC were studied. The results showed that calciumcarbonate can improve preparation and mechanical properties effectively. When adding calcium carbonatewith 15 wt% of wood powder and polymer (pkl), the material gave the best properties with an increase of about 20% in tensile strength (from 10.84 MPa to 13.16 MPa), about 12% increasein flexural strength(from 21.12 MPa to 23.70 MPa), comparedwith the reference sample without calcium carbonate. In the control sample without calcium carbonate, many gaps could be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), these gaps were the cause of the high water absorption as well as the lower density compared to the sample with 15 wt% calcium carbonate.