Recycled HDPE/wood composite foams

Wood plastic composites (WPC) are a family of composite materials in which wood particles are mixed with a thermoplastic resin (polyethylene) to offer weight reduction, good thermal properties, acoustic insulation, cost reduction, as well as high stiffness and strength. Virgin thermoplastics are generally used in the WPC industry, but plastics are seen today as one of the main global solid waste. To reduce their environmental impact and the consumption of virgin plastics, recycled plastics are suitable to manufacture WPC at a lower cost. Also foaming the composite is another method to expand their applications by reducing weight and increasing thermal/acoustic insulations. The objective of this work is to produce different WPC structures and relate their processing conditions to their final properties by optimization of their composition. In particular, uniform foams will be compared with density graded foams in terms of performance/weight.

Faculty Supervisor:

Denis Rodrigue

Student:

Paridokht Mahallati

Partner:

KWI Polymers

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Université Laval