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Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

Effects of fiber characteristics on the physical and mechanical properties

of wood plastic composites
Hassine Bouafif a, Ahmed Koubaa a,*, Patrick Perré b, Alain Cloutier c
a
Canada Research Chair on Wood Development, Characterization and Processing, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 445 BD de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, QC,
Canada J9X5E4
b
AgroParisTech, INRA, UMR1093, LERMAB, 14 rue Girardet, 54000 Nancy, France
c
Centre de Recherche sur le Bois, Université Laval, Pavillon Eugène-Kruger, QC, Canada G1K7P4

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We investigated the effects of fiber variability, size, and content on selected mechanical and physical
Received 15 December 2008 properties of wood plastic composites. HDPE and fibers were compounded into pellets by twin-screw
Received in revised form 3 June 2009 extrusion and test specimens were prepared by injection molding. All tested properties vary significantly
Accepted 4 June 2009
with fiber origin. Higher fiber size produces higher strength and elasticity but lower energy to break and
elongation. The effect of fiber size on water uptake is minimal. Increasing fiber load improves the strength
and stiffness of the composite but decreases elongation and energy to break. Water uptake increases with
Keywords:
increasing fiber content.
A. PMCs
A. Wood
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Mechanical properties
B. Chemical properties

1. Introduction wood fibers to composite materials. They observed a correlation

The effective use of wood-based particles and fibers as fillers or
reinforcements in thermoplastic composites requires a fundamen-
tal understanding of the structural and chemical characteristics of
wood [1]. English and Falk [2] provide a comprehensive overview
of the factors that affect the properties of wood–plastic composites
(WPC). Although several studies have shown that fiber-polymer
compatibility can be enhanced by selecting suitable coupling
agents [3,4], compatibility between polar wood fiber and non-polar
thermoplastics remains key to extending the application limits of
the resultant composites [5]. Another, frequently cited key factor
in natural fiber thermoplastic composites is thermal degradation
[6]. Furthermore, different wood species have different anatomical
structures. These structural differences govern the use of these
materials in WPC. For example, fiber dimensions, strength, vari-
ability, and structure are important considerations. Maldas et al.
[7] are among the few researchers who have investigated the effect
of wood species on the mechanical properties of wood/thermo-
plastic composites. They reported that differences in morphology,
density, and aspect ratios across wood species account for varying
reinforcement properties in thermoplastic composites. Recently,
Neagu et al. [8] investigated the stiffness contribution of various
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 8197620971.
E-mail addresses: ahmed.koubaa@uqat.ca (A. Koubaa), perre@nancy-engref. inra.fr
(P. Perré), alain.cloutier@sbf.ulaval.ca (A. Cloutier).
between lignin content and longitudinal Young’s modulus, and
an optimal lignin content range for maximum fiber stiffness was
recorded for softwood Kraft fibers. Several attempts have been
made to correlate wood-based particles and fiber properties to
WPC properties [9–11]. A high aspect ratio (length/width) is very
important in fiber reinforced composites, as it indicates potential
strength properties [12]. Stark and Berger [11] investigated the ef-
fects of particle size on the properties of polypropylene filled with
wood flour. They concluded that melt flow index, heat deflection
temperature, notched impact energy, and flexural and tensile mod-
ulus and strength increase with increasing particle size. Later, Stark
and Rowlands [10] reported that aspect ratio, rather than particle
size, has the greatest effect on strength and stiffness. They
suggested that particle size does not affect specific gravity.
Fiber content is an influential factor in WPC processing and
properties. Zhang et al. [13] investigated the effects of fiber content
on mixing torque and rheological properties. They concluded that
increased wood fiber content results in increased steady state
torque and viscosity. Lu and coworkers [14] concluded that the
mechanical properties of the resultant WPC increase only at low
weight percentages of wood filler. They found that tensile and
flexural strengths reach a maximum at 15 wt% and 35 wt% wood
particle contents, respectively, and gradually decrease with a
further increase in wood particle content. Dänyädi et al. [15]
reported that, at large wood content, considerable particle
aggregation takes place, leading to lower strength due to the filler’s

1359-835X/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2009.06.003
 Author's personal copy

1976 H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981

Table 1 Table 2
Hammer-milled particle classes. Injection molding machine settings.

Mean class (mesh) Size class interval Mold temperature – fixed/mobile 38 °C/38 °C
Injection pressure 900 kPa
Mesh lm
Injection pressure time 10 s
24 [20,28] [850, 600] Hold pressure 900 kPa
42 [35,48] [425, 300] Hold pressure time 4s
65 [48,100] [300, 150] Barrel temperature profile – feed, zone1, zone2, 160 °C, 190 °C, 190 °C,
nozzle 190 °C
Screw speed 135 rpm
Cooling time 15 s

failure to sustain the stress transferred from the polymer to the

matrix.
We investigated the effects of wood species, particle size, and
fiber content on selected physical and mechanical properties of
wood particle-reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
2. Materials and methods
Five types of wood sawdust were investigated in this study:
eastern white cedar, with sapwood and heartwood sawdust trea-
ted separately; jack pine sawdust divided into wood sawdust and
bark shavings; and black spruce sawdust. Sawdust and shavings
were hammer-milled into particles. Particles were then screened
and classified into three mesh sizes (Table 1) using an oscillating
multideck screen classifier. At this stage, the particles had a mois-
ture content of 10.5%.
The HDPE polymer (Goodfellow Corp., USA) used was a semi-
crystalline polymer (70–80%) with 0.95 density, 9.0 g/10 min melt
index, and 135 °C melting point. Ethylene maleic anhydride
copolymer (MAPE, A-CÒ 575A, Honeywell Int., USA) was used as
a coupling agent.
WPC were produced in a two-stage process. In the first stage,
wood particles were compounded into pellets at 25%, 35%, and
45% by weight with the HDPE using a co-rotating twin-screw ex-
truder. Barrel temperatures of the four zones ranged from 180 °C
to 190 °C from feeding to die zones. Screw speed was 240 rpm
and melt pressure at the die varied from 15 bar to 25 bar, depend-
ing on wood particle content. In the second stage, injection WPC
test specimens were produced using a reciprocating screw injec-
tion molding machine in the conditions shown in Table 2. Speci-
mens were made according to ASTM specifications for tensile,
impact, and bending strength testing.
Specimens were stored in controlled conditions (50% relative
humidity and 23 °C) for 40 h prior to testing. Tensile and bending
tests were performed according to ASTM D638 [16] and ASTM
D790 [17], respectively. Energy to break is defined as the energy
equivalent to the area under the tensile stress–strain curve.
Composites were immersed in water at room temperature for
two months. Specimens were weighed at regular intervals using
an analytical balance and water uptake was calculated.
Experiments were conducted according to an incomplete facto-
rial design. As shown in Table 3, the factors are Species (five differ-
ent fibers), Size (three size classes), and Load (three contents).
Statistical analyses were conducted using a linear univariate proce-
dure in SPSS (5% significance).
3. Results and discussion
Results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) are shown in Table
4. The ANOVA shows that all mechanical properties vary signifi-
cantly with fiber type, size, and content. Water uptake varies sig-
nificantly with fiber type and content. The effect of fiber size on
water uptake is not significant, but the interaction between fiber
length and fiber content is highly significant. This result suggests
that the effect of fiber size on water uptake is dependent on fiber
content.

Table 3
Factor combinations for the incomplete factorial design.

Species Cedar sapwood Cedar sapwood Jack pine bark Jack pine Black spruce
Size (mesh) 24 42 65 24 42 65 24 42 65 24 42 65 24 42 65
Load (%) 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 – – – 25 –
35 35 – 35 35 35 35 35 35 – 35 – 35 – –
45 45 – 45 45 45 45 45 45 – – 45 – – 45

Table 4
Results of the analysis of variance (F values) for selected mechanical and physical properties of wood plastic composites.

Source Mechanical properties Physical properties

Tensile Flexure Water uptake
r MOE e Energy to break MOR MOE e 48 h 4 weeks
Model 96.1b 34.0b 310.7b 186.0b 254.3b 294.2b 201.6b 3.3b 13.3b
Fiber 300.7b 76.4b 279.1b 476.6b 631.5b 667.5b 108.9b 1.7 ns 7.9b
Size 224.6b 27.8b 32.1b 29.2b 496.4b 410.3b 117.0b 2.1 ns 0.6ns
Content 56.7b 166.4b 2214.1b 747.3b 548.7b 1542.1b 1458.8b 17.8b 143.5b
Fiber  size 72.6b 7.5b 252.4b 183.4b 115.7b 108.5b 116.1b 1.7 ns 1.3ns
Fiber  content 12.3b 19.2b 65.4b 22.0b 74.0b 98.7b 44.7b 4.0b 1.8ns
Size  content 16.7b 8.1b 20.3b 16.3b 88.2b 69.5a 4.8b 1.4 ns 3.3a
Fiber  size  content 34.0b 6.1b 14.8b 21.1b 38.5a 32.6b 7.4b 3.5b 3.6b
a
Significant at 0.05; ns: non-significant at 0.05.
b
Significant at 0.01.
 Author's personal copy

H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981 1977

2.8 equal (0.28), whereas jack pine fibers show the most oxidized sur-
a Flexural Modulus of Elasticity
Tensile Modulus of Elasticity
face (0.35). Bark fibers show the lowest O/C ratio (0.18). Fig. 2a
2.4
shows close relationships between atomic O/C ratio and tensile
Modulus of Elasticity (GPa)

and flexural strength. Similar tendencies are obtained for the ten-
sile and flexural modulus of elasticity (not shown). The assumed
2.0 association of low O/C ratio with a lignin-rich surface [18], which
prevents the formation of ester bonds between fibers and the cou-
1.6 pling agent (MAPE), could explain the lower strength values ob-
tained for the bark composites.
For composites made with semi-crystalline matrix polymers,
1.2
crystallinity is another important factor in determining the stiff-
ness and fracture behavior of the crystallized matrix polymer
0.8 [19]. Crystallinity depends on the processing parameters, e.g., crys-
tallinity temperature, cooling rate, nucleation density, annealing
HDPE Neat Cedar (Heartwood) Jack pine time, and fiber type [20,21]. Bouafif et al. [22] investigated the effi-
Cedar (Sapwood) Bark Black spruce ciency of the same wood filler as a nucleating agent using non-iso-
thermal analysis. Nucleating activity was determined for various
50
Maximum Flexural Strength wood fillers by the crystalline weight fraction of the HDPE matrix.
b Maximum Tensile Strength
45

40
Strength (MPa)

35

30

25

20

15
HDPE Neat Cedar (Heartwood) Jack pine
Cedar (Sapwood) Bark Black spruce

Fig. 1. Variation in (a) tensile and flexural modulus of elasticity and maximum
flexural and tensile strength for wood particle/HDPE injection-molded composites
with different filler species at constant fiber load (35%) and particle size (42 mesh).

3.1. Effect of fiber type

The mechanical proprieties of the injected wood plastic com-

posites vary significantly with fiber type (Table 4). Fig. 1a and b
illustrates the tensile and flexural modulus of elasticity and maxi-
mum strength, respectively, of wood particle-reinforced HDPE
composites made with various wood types. WPC made with jack
pine and black spruce particles exhibit the highest modulus of elas-
ticity and strength, whereas bark and eastern white cedar WPC
show the lowest properties. Average flexural modulus of elasticity
ranges from 2.3 GPa to 2.2 GPa for jack pine and black spruce WPC,
respectively, while maximum flexural strength is approximately
equal (40 MPa) for both species. In other words, both modulus of
elasticity and maximum strength of HDPE are enhanced at least
1.5 times when jack pine or black spruce is added.
In a previous investigation, Bouafif et al. [18] used the atomic
concentration ratio of oxygen to carbon (O/C) on the fiber surface
as an initial indication of surface oxidation (Table 5). The O/C Fig. 2. Variation in tensile and flexural strength with (a) O/C ratio and (b) relative
atomic ratios for eastern white cedar and black spruce fibers are crystallinity.

Table 5
Physical and chemical properties of wood fibers.

Species Specific gravity Extractives (%) Lignin (%) Carbohydrates (%) O/Ca atomic ratio Composite crystallinity (%)b
White cedar 0.32 12 25 67 0.28 76.0
Jack pine 0.43 3 27 70 0.35 77.4
Black spruce 0.46 3 25 72 0.28 76.2
Jack pine bark 0.40 10 48 42 0.18 74.6
a
Data from Bouafif et al. [18].
b
Data from Bouafif et al. [22]

1978
When tensile and flexural strength were plotted against the crys-
talline weight fraction (Fig. 2b), an affinity relationship was estab-
lished. Other factors could also explain this difference, including
the lower intrinsic fiber strength of bark fibers compared to wood
fibers.
Fig. 3a and b depicts the energy to break and elongation at
break, respectively, of the obtained composite materials. Compos-
ites filled with eastern white cedar sapwood and bark show brittle
behavior, with 90% and 60% lower energy to break than black
spruce. This result is mainly explained by poor adhesion between
the particles of some species and the HDPE matrix. Because white
cedar wood and bark contain high amounts of extractives at the
surface compared to jack pine and black spruce, a weak surface
boundary layer can be formed, making the coupling agent less
effective in forming a cross-linking network with the cellulose
[23]. This result is observed for bark-particle WPC, which shows
the second highest elongation at break after black spruce WPC.
This could be explained by the good dispersion of this particle type.
Thus, some lipophilic extractives might help to disperse the parti-
cles during WPC preparation. These results agree with Maldas et al.
[7], who reported that differences in morphology, density, and as-
pect ratios across wood species account for varying reinforcement
in thermoplastic composites. It is therefore important to select the
appropriate wood species for optimal WPC end use. Accordingly,
depending on the intrinsic characteristics of wood fibers, the prop-
erties of the resultant WPC differ to a large extent. The order of the
reinforcement performance of the investigated fibers closely fol-
lows the rank of their ability to form ester bonds with MAPE
220
a particle size has greater influence at higher fiber load (45 wt%),
200
Energy to Break (J/m 2 X103 )
180
160
140
120
100
80
Cedar (Sapwood)
Cedar (Heartwood)
8.0
b larger filler particles (greater than 250 lm) decrease tensile
7.5
Elongation at Break (%)
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.5
5.0
4.5
4.0
Cedar(Sapwood)
Cedar(Heartwood)
Fig. 3. Variation in (a) energy to break and (b) maximum tensile elongation at break
for wood particle/HDPE injection-molded composites with different filler species at
constant load (35%) and particle size (42 mesh).
Author's personal copy
H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981
[18]. To achieve optimal strength of the WPC, black spruce or jack
pine particles are the most appropriate for reinforcements.
Water uptake of the injected WPC varies among the five studied
fibers. Bark WPC exhibit lower water absorption compared to those
made with wood particles. This result could be explained by the
highly different chemical composition of bark fibers compared to
wood fibers (Table 4). Because bark contains higher hydrophobic
volume content (lignin and extractives) and lower hydrophilic con-
tent (cellulose and hemicelluloses), it would be expected to show
lower water uptake compared to wood fibers (Fig. 4). Nevertheless,
high among-species variation is found in the wood–fiber WPC for
water uptake. These differences could be explained by several fac-
tors, including wood chemical composition. For example, eastern
white cedar heartwood has higher extractive content than its sap-
wood. Thus, as expected, WPC made with heartwood shows lower
water uptake than WPC made with sapwood (Fig. 4).
3.2. Effect of particle size
The effect of particle size on the mechanical properties investi-
gated in this study is highly significant (Table 4). In general,
increasing fiber size improves the modulus of elasticity and maxi-
mum strength in both tensile and flexure tests (Fig. 5a–d). This re-
sult is consistent with previous reports on wood-particle
thermoplastic composites [10,11,24,25]. As for tensile modulus,
flexural modulus of elasticity shows a steady increase with
increasing particle size at higher filler content (Fig. 5c). It rises from
2.1 GPa at particle sizes ranging from 100 mesh to 48 mesh (150–
300 lm) to 2.7 GPa at average particle size of 24 mesh (710 lm)
and 45 wt% filler content. These results are in good agreement with
previously reported data [11,24].
Flexural strength development (Fig. 5d) also demonstrates that
with approximately 24% higher strength when average particle
size increases from 65 mesh to 24 mesh. On the other hand, the
incorporation of wood particles in the HDPE matrix steadily in-
creases tensile strength (Fig. 1b), independently of filler content.
When average particle size increases from 65 mesh (230 lm) to
24 mesh (710 lm), tensile strength improves by 43%, 10%, and
12% at 25 wt%, 35 wt%, and 45 wt% filler content, respectively. Zaini
et al. [24] reported increasing maximum tensile strength with
increasing particle size for isotactic polypropylene filled with 250
mesh to 63 mesh oil palm wood flour, while Stark and Rowlands
[10] recommended the use of higher aspect ratio wood fibers,
Bark Black spruce rather than larger size fibers, to increase WPC strength. However,
Jack pine Migneault et al. [26] showed that maintaining constant fiber diam-
eter and increasing fiber length improves the strength and elastic-
ity of HDPE-filled composites. Stark and Berger [11] found that
properties.
Bark Black spruce
Jack pine
Fig. 4. Average water uptake in composite materials with various wood fibers after
four weeks of water immersion.
 Author's personal copy

H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981 1979

32
25 wt% 25 wt%
a 35 wt% b 35 wt%
Tensile Modulus of Elasticity (GPa)

Maximum Tensile Strength (MPa)

45 wt% 45 wt%
2.0 28

24
1.6

20

1.2
16
65 42 24 65 42 24
Average Particle Size (mesh) Average Particle Size (mesh)

3.2 50
25 wt% 25 wt%
c 35 wt% d
Flexural Modulus of Elasticity (GPa)

35 wt%

Maximum Flexural Strength (MPa)

2.8 45 wt% 45 45 wt%

2.4 40

35
2.0

30
1.6

25
1.2

20
65 42 24 65 42 24
Average Particle Size (mesh) Average Particle Size (mesh)

Fig. 5. Effect of wood particle size with various filler contents on (a) tensile modulus of elasticity (b), tensile strength, (c) flexural modulus of elasticity, and (d) flexural
strength of WPC.

Fig. 6a and b shows the energy to break and elongation at break
of the resultant composite materials, respectively. Both properties
decrease with larger particle size. The effect is more pronounced as
particle concentration increases. Despite the significant increase in
tensile strength with increasing particle size, the rupture energy
decreases (Fig 6a), which could be explained by the decrease in
elongation at break. This is a common tendency that has been re-
ported with inorganic filler as well [27]. Composite strength de-
pends on the debonding process at the fiber end and the fiber’s
pull-out process during interface failure [28]. The phenomenon is
more marked as particle size increases. Because cracks travel
around the wood particles, the fracture surface area increases with
increasing particle size. As a result, less energy is required to frac-
ture a specimen containing larger particles [11].
In summary, although incorporating larger particle sizes into
the HDPE matrix effectively improves strength properties, this
improvement comes at the price of energy to break. Thus, depend-
ing on end use, the composite should be optimized for either stiff-
ness or energy to break, by adjusting both filler particle size and
concentration.
The effect of particle size on water uptake is not significant, as
shown in Table 4. However, the interaction between fiber size
and fiber content is significant. Thus, the effect of fiber length on
water uptake is dependent on fiber content. At lower contents,
the larger the particle size, the higher the water absorption (Fig
7), which is in good agreement with previous reports [29,30]. This
can be explained in two ways: (i) larger particles lead to greater
hydrophilic exposed surfaces; and (ii) poor adhesion between
wood particles and the polymer matrix generates void spaces
around the wood particles. These voids in the bulk matrix are read-
ily filled with water. At higher contents, the effect of fiber size is
not significant. This could be attributed to the fact that, at higher
contents, the effect of fiber size is minimal compared to that of
content. In addition, fiber size changes during processing. We
investigated this development, mainly after compounding (results
not shown), and observed that particles with higher aspect ratios
are subject to severe damage due to higher shear stresses that
develops in the conical counter-rotating intermeshing twin-screw
extruder during mixing and compounding. Apparently, particle
length distribution after compounding skews towards the shortest
particle length.
WPC water absorption tends to increase up to 8 weeks of
immersion, as shown in Fig. 8. This negates the argument that
WPC reaches saturation at short and medium immersion times.
For example, assuming that moisture is absorbed by wood particles
alone, then the average moisture content of wood particles is 10.4%
in composites filled with 42 mesh particles at 35 wt%. However,
when neat wood particles are immersed in water, moisture con-
tent readily exceeds 30%, or fiber saturation. Therefore, WPC water
uptake may actually be slowed down rather than delayed.
3.3. Effect of fiber content
As shown in Table 4, the effect of fiber content is highly signif-
icant for all tested properties. In general, high wood particle con-
tent yields materials with high rigidity and strength. Fig. 8a and
b illustrates the effect of fiber content on rigidity and strength
properties, respectively, in eastern white cedar particle-based
 Author's personal copy

1980 H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981

280 3.2
25 wt% MOEF
a 35 wt% MOET
45 wt% 2.8
240

Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

Energy to Break (J/m2 x103 )

2.4
200

2.0
160
1.6

120
1.2

80 0.8

0 wt % (Neat HDPE) 25 wt % 35 wt % 45 wt %
40
65 42 24 Wood particle content
Average Particle Size (mesh)
60
Fmax.
16
Rm
25 wt%
b 35 wt%
50

45 wt%
Elongation at Break (%)

Strength (MPa)
12 40

30

8
20

10
4
0 wt % (Neat HDPE) 25 wt % 35 wt % 45 wt %

65 42 24 Wood particle content

Average Particle Size (mesh) Fig. 8. Variation in tensile and flexural (a) modulus of elasticity, and (b) maximum
strength of eastern white cedar–HDPE composites.
Fig. 6. Effect of wood particle size and filler content on (a) energy to break (tensile
energy) and (b) tensile elongation at break.

creases from 25 wt% to 45 wt%. However, wood fibers cause a dra-

composites. Tensile modulus of elasticity (TMOE) of the resultant matic decrease in elongation at break after flexion and tensile
composites increases steadily with wood fiber content, from stress, as shown in Fig. 9a. Over 400% reduction in elongation at
0.85 GPa for neat HDPE to 1.75 GPa for WPC with 45 wt% wood break (e RB) is recorded at 45% particle content compared to neat
content. Loading neat HDPE with 45 wt% wood fibers increases HDPE. These results are in good agreement with previous reports
the flexural modulus of elasticity by over three times. on wood-particle thermoplastic composites [31,32]. Over 135%
Compared to neat HDPE, maximum flexural (Fmax) and maxi- reduction in energy to break is recorded at 45% particle content
mum tensile strength (Rm) of HDPE nearly double with the addi- compared to 25% wood-based composites (Fig. 9b).This reduction
tion of 45% wood particles. Flexural and tensile strength at break, in elongation is expected, given that adding fiber changes the vis-
respectively, improve by 53% and 18% when wood filler content in- coelastic behavior of HDPE to a more ductile behavior.

2.5 4. Conclusions
20 - 28 mesh
35 - 48 mesh
48 - 100 mesh
Wood fiber variability has a significant effect on the mechanical
2.0 and physical properties studied. This effect is explained by varia-
tions in fiber surface properties, relative crystallinity, thermal deg-
Water Uptake (wt %)

radation, and wood specific gravity. Composites made with bark

1.5
particles exhibit lower water absorption compared to those made
with wood particles. Differences in chemical composition between
1.0 bark and wood are among the plausible explanations for the differ-
ences in water uptake. Increasing fiber size improves strength and
stiffness, but reduces elongation and energy to break. The effect of
0.5 fiber size on water uptake is minimal compared to the effects of fi-
ber origin and content. Increasing fiber content improves the
strength and stiffness of composites, but decreases elongation
0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 and energy to break. Water uptake increases substantially with
Immersion Time (h) increasing fiber content.
Composites made with bark particles exhibit lower water
Fig. 7. Average water uptake in composite materials with wood particle size. absorption compared to those made with wood particles. Differ-
 Author's personal copy

H. Bouafif et al. / Composites: Part A 40 (2009) 1975–1981 1981

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Elongation at max. strength (%)

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[6] Burgstaller C. Processing of thermal sensitive materials—a case study for wood
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160
140
120
100
80
60
25 wt %
wood Particle content
Fig. 9. Variation in tensile (a) elongation at maximum strength and (b) energy to
break of eastern white cedar–HDPE composites.
ences in chemical composition between bark and wood are among
the plausible explanations for the differences in water uptake.
Acknowledgments
The Authors are grateful to the Canada Research Chair Program;
the Ministère du développement économique, de l’Innovation et de
l’exportation du Québec (MDEIE); Caisse Populaire Desjardins; the
Centre de Technologie des Résidus Industriels (CTRI); Tembec; and
La Fondation de l’UQAT for financial support.
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