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Review Paper
Department of Chemical Industries, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), P.O. Box 15815-3538, Tehran, Iran
Received 6 June 2007; received in revised form 6 September 2007; accepted 10 September 2007
Available online 18 December 2007
Abstract
Wood–plastic composite (WPC) is a very promising and sustainable green material to achieve durability without using toxic chem-
icals. The term WPCs refers to any composites that contain plant fiber and thermosets or thermoplastics. In comparison to other fibrous
materials, plant fibers are in general suitable to reinforce plastics due to relative high strength and stiffness, low cost, low density, low
CO2 emission, biodegradability and annually renewable. Plant fibers as fillers and reinforcements for polymers are currently the fastest-
growing type of polymer additives. Since automakers are aiming to make every part either recyclable or biodegradable, there still seems
to be some scope for green-composites based on biodegradable polymers and plant fibers. From a technical point of view, these bio-based
composites will enhance mechanical strength and acoustic performance, reduce material weight and fuel consumption, lower production
cost, improve passenger safety and shatterproof performance under extreme temperature changes, and improve biodegradability for the
auto interior parts.
2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
However certain drawbacks, such as tendency to form wood and thermoplastics. The coupling forms include
aggregates during processing, low thermal stability, low covalent bonds, secondary bonding (such as hydrogen
resistance to moisture and seasonal quality variations (even bonding and van der Waals’ forces), polymer molecular
between individual plants in the same cultivation), greatly entanglement and mechanical interblocking (Lu et al.,
reduce the potential of plant fibers to be used as reinforce- 2000). Therefore, chemical treatments can be considered
ment for polymers (Bismarck et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2006). in modifying the properties of plant fibers. Some com-
The high moisture absorption of plant fibers leads to swell- pounds are known to promote adhesion by chemically cou-
ing and presence of voids at the interface (porous prod- pling the adhesive to the material, such as sodium
ucts), which results in poor mechanical properties and hydroxide, silane, acetic acid, acrylic acid, isocyanates,
reduces dimensional instability of composites. Treatment potassium permanganate, peroxide, etc. The mechanism
of plant fibers with hydrophobic chemicals (i.e. PPgMA) of compatibilizing agent is shown in Fig. 1. The coupling
or modification with vinyl monomers can reduce the mois- agent chemically bonded with hydrophilic fiber and
ture gain (Gassan and Bledzki, 2000; Espert et al., 2003). blended by wetting in the polymer chain (Yang et al.,
One of the major disadvantages of plant fibers is the 2007).
poor compatibility exhibited between the fibers and the Another problem is the processing temperature that
polymeric matrices, which results non-uniform dispersion restricts the choice of matrix material. Plant fibers are com-
of fibers within the matrix and poor mechanical properties. posed of various organic materials (primarily cellulose, as
Wood and plastic are like oil and water, and do not mix well as hemicellulose and lignin) and therefore their ther-
well. Most polymers, especially thermoplastics, are non- mal treatment leads to a variety of physical and chemical
polar (‘‘hydrophobic’’, repelling water) substances, which changes. Thermal degradation of those fibers leads to poor
are not compatible with polar (‘‘hydrophilic’’, it absorbs organoleptic properties, such as odor and colors and more-
water) wood fibers and, therefore, poor adhesion between over to deterioration of their mechanical properties. It also
polymer and fiber in WPC can result. In order to improve results in the generation of gaseous products, when pro-
the affinity and adhesion between fibers and thermoplastic cessing takes place at temperatures above 200 C, which
matrices in production, chemical ‘‘coupling’’ or ‘‘compati- can create high porosity, low density and reduced mechan-
bilizing’’ agents have been employed (Kim et al., 2006). ical properties. For the improvement of thermal stability,
Chemical coupling agents are substances, typically poly- attempts have been made to coat and/or graft the fibers
mers that are used in small quantities to treat a surface with monomers (cited by Georgopoulos et al., 2005; Jacob
so that bonding occurs between it and other surfaces, e.g. and Thomas, in press).
Fig. 1. Mechanism of coupling agent between hydrophilic fiber and hydrophobic matrix polymer.
4664 A. Ashori / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 4661–4667
5. Concluding remarks Anastas, P.T., Kirchhoff, M.M., 2002. Origins, current status, and future
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and its growth circumstances. Morphology of plant chanical properties of biocomposites made from modified cellulose and
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pared to that of glass fibers, which leads to advantages of natural fiber reinforced plastics by fiber modification – jute
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Acknowledgements Muller, D.H., Krobjilowski, A., Muessig, J., 2001. In: Proceedings of
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Author would like to acknowledge the financial support Muller, D.H., Stryjewski, D.D. 2001. In: Proceedings of Beltwide Cotton
(Grant No. #600-47) by the Iranian Research Organization Conferences, National Cotton Council of America, Memphis, TN, pp.
for Science and Technology (IROST). 714–717.
Panthapulakkal, S., Zereshkian, A., Sain, M., 2006. Preparation and
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