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Geopolymers based on fly ash are an emerging alternative to ordinary Portland cement, with a low impact on the environment and a potential to increase the sustainability of the concrete-based construction. Reported here is the design and investigation of new wood fiber reinforced geopolymer composites (WFRGC) based on fly ash and wood fiber (5–35 wt%). These WFRGC showed reduced mechanical properties with rising wood fiber addition as calculated by compressive strength with the cylindrical test (7.83–59.82 MPa); compressive strength at cubic test (6.95–50.23 MPa); force load at upper yield (0.70–5.02 KN); flexural strength (1.71–11.05 MPa); compressive modulus at cubic test (0.13–054 GPa); and flexural modulus (3.91–1293.61 MPa). The adding of wood fiber showed decreases of the density WFRGC (1.58–1.87 g/cm3) and decreases the thermal conductivity of WFRGC. The addition 20 wt% wood fiber could be the limit for acceptable mechanical properties. WFRGC with 20–35 wt% wood fibers may be a promising green material for building.

Abstract The hot-disk method is a transient method for the measurement of thermal properties. This method can measure both the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity in a short time for isotropic materials. To establish a method for measuring the thermal properties of wood by the hot-disk method, the relationship between the thermal properties of wood obtained by the hot-disk method and those obtained by the steady-state method was investigated. The thermal properties were measured by the hot-disk method using small pieces of kiri (Paulownia tomentosa), sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa), yachidamo (Fraxinus mandshurica), and buna (Fagus crenata) when the hot-disk sensor was in contact with the cross section, radial section, and tangential section. The thermal conductivities in the longitudinal, radial, and tangential directions were also measured by the comparison method using the same specimen. The thermal properties obtained by the hot-disk method and the steady-state method were compared, based on the assumption that the thermal diffusivity measured by the hot-disk method was the geometric mean of that in the two main directions in the plane of the sensor, and the thermal conductivity measured by the hot-disk method was a power of that in three main directions. As a result, the thermal conductivity obtained by the hot-disk method was 10–20% higher than that obtained by the steady-state method; the thermal diffusivity measured by the hot-disk method was equal to that obtained by the steady-state method on average, while in the former thermal diffusivity varied widely. These results were found to be explainable in terms of the Dufour effect, which is the heat flow induced by the mass flow caused by the heating of the sensor, and the existing findings on the time dependence of the sensitivity coefficient in the hot-disk method. The present study proposed two methods for calculating the thermal properties of wood from the hot-disk method were proposed, and it was found that the errors between the obtained thermal properties and those obtained by the steady-state method differed depending on the calculation method.

The goal of this study is to find out how some properties of wood–polymer nanocomposites are affected by the processing technology, the nanomaterials, and the ratio of coupling agents. To achieve this objective, the extruded and dry blended samples are made from wood flour with MAPP, ZnO nanoparticles (0, 1, 3, and 5 wt%), and polypropylene. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites improve significantly with ZnO and MAPP loading. Due to the more homogeneous structure of nanocomposites, better mechanical results are obtained with the extrusion method. With ZnO and MAPP loading, the thermal stability of nanocomposites improves. The storage and loss modulus values indicate that the processing technology of nanocomposites could be a key factor in the resistance of the materials obtained by extrusion. The storage and loss modulus of nanocomposites manufactured by the extrusion technology are determined to be higher than those of the samples produced using the dry blending method.

This article explores wood-fiber-based fabrics containing Lyocell yarn in the warp and Spinnova–Lyocell (60%/40%) yarn in the weft, which are used to form unidirectional all-cellulose composites (ACC) through partial dilution in a NaOH–urea solution. The aim is to investigate the role of the yarn orientation in composites, which was conducted by measuring the tensile properties in both the 0° and 90° directions. As a reference, thermoplastic biocomposites were prepared from the same fabrics, with biobased polypropylene (PP) as the matrix. We also compared the mechanical and thermal properties of the ACC and PP biocomposites. The following experiments were carried out: tensile test, TGA, DSC, DMA, water absorption test and SEM. The study found no significant difference in tensile strength regarding the Spinnova–Lyocell orientation between ACC and PP biocomposites, while the composite tensile strength was clearly higher in the warp (Lyocell) direction for both composite variants. Elongation at break doubled in ACC in the Lyocell direction compared with the other samples. Thermal analysis showed that mass reduction started at a lower temperature for ACC, but the thermal stability was higher compared with the PP biocomposites. Maximum thermal degradation temperature was measured as being 352 °C for ACC and 466 °C for neat PP, and the PP biocomposites had two peaks in the same temperature range (340–474 °C) as ACC and neat PP combined. ACCs absorbed 93% of their own dry weight in water in just one hour, whereas the PP biocomposites BC2 and BC4 absorbed only 10% and 6%, respectively. The study highlights the different properties of ACC and PP reference biocomposites that could lead to further development and research of commercial applications for ACC.

Moisture content is one of the most important properties of wood. The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the dependence between thermal properties and different moisture contents of softwood, hardwood and medium hardwood samples with dimensions of 100 x 100 mm and a thickness of 10 mm (measured using the transient method). Different moisture contents of the wood samples under consideration were achieved by a gradual drying treatment in the laboratory setting. The final results obtained represent the arithmetic means computed from ten sets of measurements. The measured relationship between the thermal conductivity and the mass specific heat of the wood samples was found to indicate an increasing trend, whereas the relationship between the thermal diffusivity and the moisture content of the wood samples showed a non-linear decreasing trend. On the basis of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the thermal properties of wood are greatly affected by the type of wood and changes in the wood moisture content, which mainly depend on wood structure and water conduction in wood.

This article explores wood-fiber-based fabrics containing Lyocell yarn in the warp and Spinnova-Lyocell (60%/40%) yarn in the weft, which are used to form unidirectional all-cellulose composites (ACC) through partial dilution in a NaOH-urea solution. The aim is to investigate the role of the yarn orientation in composites, which was conducted by measuring the tensile properties in both the 0° and 90° directions. As a reference, thermoplastic biocomposites were prepared from the same fabrics, with biobased polypropylene (PP) as the matrix. We also compared the mechanical and thermal properties of the ACC and PP biocomposites. The following experiments were carried out: tensile test, TGA, DSC, DMA, water absorption test and SEM. The study found no significant difference in tensile strength regarding the Spinnova-Lyocell orientation between ACC and PP biocomposites, while the composite tensile strength was clearly higher in the warp (Lyocell) direction for both composite variants. Elongation at break doubled in ACC in the Lyocell direction compared with the other samples. Thermal analysis showed that mass reduction started at a lower temperature for ACC, but the thermal stability was higher compared with the PP biocomposites. Maximum thermal degradation temperature was measured as being 352 °C for ACC and 466 °C for neat PP, and the PP biocomposites had two peaks in the same temperature range (340-474 °C) as ACC and neat PP combined. ACCs absorbed 93% of their own dry weight in water in just one hour, whereas the PP biocomposites BC2 and BC4 absorbed only 10% and 6%, respectively. The study highlights the different properties of ACC and PP reference biocomposites that could lead to further development and research of commercial applications for ACC.

Biobased HDPE (bioHDPE) was melt-compounded with different percentages (2.5 to 40.0 wt.%) of short hemp fibers (HF) as a natural reinforcement to obtain environmentally friendly wood plastic composites (WPC). These WPC were melt-compounded using a twin-screw extrusion and shaped into standard samples by injection molding. To improve the poor compatibility between the high non-polar BioHDPE matrix and the highly hydrophilic lignocellulosic fibers, a malleated copolymer, namely, polyethylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), was used. The addition of short hemp fibers provided a remarkable increase in the stiffness that, in combination with PE-g-MA, led to good mechanical performance. In particular, 40 wt.% HF drastically increased the Young’s modulus and impact strength of BioHDPE, reaching values of 5275 MPa and 3.6 kJ/m2, respectively, which are very interesting values compared to neat bioHDPE of 826 MPa and 2.0 kJ/m2. These results were corroborated by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) results, which revealed a clear increasing tendency on stiffness with increasing the fiber loading over the whole temperature range. The crystal structure was not altered by the introduction of the natural fibers as could be seen in the XRD patterns in which mainly the heights of the main peaks changed, and only small peaks associated with the presence of the fiber appeared. Analysis of the thermal properties of the composites showed that no differences in melting temperature occurred and the non-isothermal crystallization process was satisfactorily described from the combined Avrami and Ozawa model. As for the thermal degradation, the introduction of HF resulted in the polymer degradation taking place at a higher temperature. As for the change in color of the injected samples, it was observed that the increase in fiber generated a clear modification in the final shades of the pieces, reaching colors very similar to dark woods for percentages higher than 20% HF. Finally, the incorporation of an increasing percentage of fibers also increased water absorption due to its lignocellulosic nature in a linear way, which drastically improved the polarity of the composite.

This study was to investigate sepiolite clay nanofibers (SCNs) on some physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of wood-plastic nanocomposites. To meet this objective, pinewood flour with maleic anhydride polypropylene (PP), sepiolite nanofibers (0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt%), and PP were compounded in a twin-screw corotating extruder. The mass ratio of the wood flour to PP was 50/50 (wt%/wt%) in all compounds. The test specimens were produced using an injection molding machine from the pellets. Flexural and tensile properties, thickness swelling, water absorption, thermogravimetric analysis, and morphology of the manufactured nanocomposites were evaluated. Based on the findings in this study, flexural and tensile properties of the wood-plastic nanocomposites increased with increasing the content of the sepiolite nanofibers. By increasing the amount of SCNs, thickness swelling and water absorption properties of wood-plastic nanocomposites were improved. Increasing the loading of SCNs increased the amount of residual ash and thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolymers based on fly ash are an emerging alternative to ordinary Portland cement, with a low impact on the environment and a potential to increase the sustainability of the concrete-based construction. Reported here is the design and investigation of new wood fiber reinforced geopolymer composites (WFRGC) based on fly ash and wood fiber (5–35 wt%). These WFRGC showed reduced mechanical properties with rising wood fiber addition as calculated by compressive strength with the cylindrical test (7.83–59.82 MPa); compressive strength at cubic test (6.95–50.23 MPa); force load at upper yield (0.70–5.02 KN); flexural strength (1.71–11.05 MPa); compressive modulus at cubic test (0.13–054 GPa); and flexural modulus (3.91–1293.61 MPa). The adding of wood fiber showed decreases of the density WFRGC (1.58–1.87 g/cm3) and decreases the thermal conductivity of WFRGC. The addition 20 wt% wood fiber could be the limit for acceptable mechanical properties. WFRGC with 20–35 wt% wood fibers may be a promising green material for building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific studies on the impact of wood species on solid fuel production, performance, and sustainability are grossly inadequate. The knowledge of this is imperative as users of solid fuels are increasing rapidly, especially in Africa. On this note, it becomes necessary to explore measures that will improve its efficiency and sustainability as an energy source. This study investigates some properties of selected wood species used as an energy source in Nigeria and their pelleting potential. Nine samples were characterized and assessed for suitability of pelleting following four wood pellet quality standards. The properties investigated are physical (moisture content and density) and thermochemical (calorific value, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and ultimate properties (carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, arsenic, cadmium, and lead)). These were selected because they are among the most important pellet parameters contained in the quality standards. The findings revealed a net calorific value between 10.61 MJ.kg−1 for Tectona grandis and 18.44 MJ.kg−1 for Eucalyptus cam. The ash content, volatile matter, and fixed carbon contents of the samples range between 2.1 and 24.4%, 65.94 and 87.77%, and 3.51 and 18.63%, respectively. Anogeissus leiocarpus was found to be the species with the best rating score in terms of fuel properties, while Vitellaria paradoxa was the lowest. However, in terms of conformity with the four wood pellet standards, Khaya senegalensis, Parkia biglobosa, and Eucalyptus cam., having presented density, calorific value, sulfur, arsenic, cadmium, and lead within the limits of the wood pellet quality standards, were considered the best wood species in terms of fuel suitability and pelleting potential. The findings therefore suggest that not all wood species are suitable as fuel. Thus, for species that do not meet the standard wood pellet requirements, alternatives such as the use of biomass blends, additives, or process adjustments can be employed to adapt the quality to the standards or by using the fuels in improved cookstoves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of repeated cycles of injection molding on some mechanical and thermal properties of wood plastic composites (WPCs) was investigated. Pine wood flour (50 wt%) was mixed with HDPE (50 wt%) containing compatibilizing agent (MAPE, 3 wt%) in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. The test specimens were produced by injection molding from the pellets dried to the moisture content (MC) of 1%. After the mechanical properties of the WPC test specimens were determined, the failed specimens were subsequently pelletized. These pellets were stored and dried for 4 to 6 h until the repeated injection was molded. These processes were repeated seven times. The results revealed that the flexural strength of WPCs increased by about 5.26% from the original granules to the third injection cycle, but further increments in the number of cycles decreased the flexural strength. The tensile strength and tensile modulus of the WPC specimens increased until the third cycle of injection molding while they tended to decrease after the third injection cycle.

Physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of wood flour reinforced ungrafted and maleic anhydride grafted unsaturated polyester biocomposites were investigated. Composites were prepared using a Resin Transfer Moulding technique by varying wood flour loading (10, 15, 20, and 25 wt%) for both ungrafted and maleic anhydride grafted unsaturated polyester. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis was utilized to study physical properties. Tensile and flexural tests were conducted for mechanical characterization, while thermal properties were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). FTIR and SEM results confirmed the presence of grafting onto the unsaturated polyester. The flexural strength and modulus of the composites were increased up to 20% filler loading, after which those values decreased, whereas, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus values increased only up to 15% filler loading. Maleic anhydride grafted composites had better mechanical properties compared to ungrafted composites. According to TGA results, maleic anhydride grafted composites showed enhanced thermal stability at the final decomposition stage.

Biobased HDPE (bioHDPE) was melt-compounded with different percentages (2.5 to 40.0 wt.%) of short hemp fibers (HF) as a natural reinforcement to obtain environmentally friendly wood plastic composites (WPC). These WPC were melt-compounded using a twin-screw extrusion and shaped into standard samples by injection molding. To improve the poor compatibility between the high non-polar BioHDPE matrix and the highly hydrophilic lignocellulosic fibers, a malleated copolymer, namely, polyethylene- graft -maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), was used. The addition of short hemp fibers provided a remarkable increase in the stiffness that, in combination with PE-g-MA, led to good mechanical performance. In particular, 40 wt.% HF drastically increased the Young's modulus and impact strength of BioHDPE, reaching values of 5275 MPa and 3.6 kJ/m 2 , respectively, which are very interesting values compared to neat bioHDPE of 826 MPa and 2.0 kJ/m 2 . These results were corroborated by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) results, which revealed a clear increasing tendency on stiffness with increasing the fiber loading over the whole temperature range. The crystal structure was not altered by the introduction of the natural fibers as could be seen in the XRD patterns in which mainly the heights of the main peaks changed, and only small peaks associated with the presence of the fiber appeared. Analysis of the thermal properties of the composites showed that no differences in melting temperature occurred and the non-isothermal crystallization process was satisfactorily described from the combined Avrami and Ozawa model. As for the thermal degradation, the introduction of HF resulted in the polymer degradation taking place at a higher temperature. As for the change in color of the injected samples, it was observed that the increase in fiber generated a clear modification in the final shades of the pieces, reaching colors very similar to dark woods for percentages higher than 20% HF. Finally, the incorporation of an increasing percentage of fibers also increased water absorption due to its lignocellulosic nature in a linear way, which drastically improved the polarity of the composite.

This study presents a model for simulating the microscopic heat transfer processes in a wood-metal composite material. The model was developed by analyzing the microstructure of experimental samples comprising a melted alloy impregnated in a wood matrix. According to the thermal parameters of the materials and the boundary conditions, an analytical model of microscale heat transfer was established using Abaqus finite element analysis software. The model was validated experimentally by comparing temperature curves obtained via simulation and experiments; the resulting correlation coefficient was 0.96557. We then analyzed the temperature distribution of the composite material with different cell geometries and heat transfer conditions (heat transfer direction and applied temperature). The thermal properties of the unit cell models were in good agreement with the general trends predicted by several heat transfer equations. This study provides a method for analyzing the microscale heat transfer process in wood-based composites. In addition, the model framework characteristics can be used to evaluate the heat transfer mechanism of impregnated modified wood.

The thermal performance of wood–plastic composites (WPCs) with different fiber, different fiber contents, and different lubricants were investigated in this paper. The results show that the thermal degradation temperature, melting temperature, crystallization temperature, crystallinity, and viscosity of WPCs with wood fiber were slightly higher than those of WPCs with floor sanding powder and rice husk. As the wood fiber content increased, the melting temperature and crystallinity of WPCs decreased while the crystallization temperature, viscosity, and pseudoplasticity increased. When the wood fiber content was increased to 60%, the dimensional stability of WPCs tended to be constant, and a higher wood fiber content was not conducive for processing of WPCs. WPCs had a small coefficient of linear thermal expansion at low temperature and demonstrated a good dimensional stability. The presence of lubricant reduced the viscosity and increased the pseudoplasticity of the WPCs, which is advantageous for the dimensional stability of WPCs at low temperature while making it worse for high temperatures.

Hemicellulose of Southern Yellow Pine wood spices was extracted by pressurized hot water at three different temperatures: 140°C, 155°C and 170°C. Compounding with PP (polypropylene) was performed by extrusion after preparing wood flour and sieving to determine its mesh size. The ratio of wood to polymer was 50:50 based on oven-dry weight of wood flour. All extraction treatments and control samples were compounded under two sets of conditions, without and with 2% MAPP as coupling agent. Injection molding was used to make tensile test samples (dogbone) from the pellets made by extrusion. Thermal properties of wood-plastic composites were studied by TGA and DSC while the thermal stability of pretreated wood flours, PP and MAPP were studied by TGA as well. The greater weight loss of wood materials was an indication that higher treatment temperature increases the extractability of hemicellulose. The removal of hemicellulose by extraction improves thermal stability of wood flour, especially for extraction at 170°C. Wood-plastic composites made from extracted fibers at 170°C showed the highest thermal stability. Coupling agent did not have a significant effect on thermal stability but it improved the degree of crystallinity of the composites.Surface roughness of wood fiber increased after treatment. Extraction of hemicellulose increased the degree of crystallinity but it was not significant except for samples from treated wood flour at 170°C and with MAPP.

In this study, the effects of oxidized polypropylene, as a compatibilizer, and Nano-clay particles in improving the thermal properties of wood plastic composites are investigated. For this purpose, polypropylene polymer was oxidized in the vicinity of the air oxygen for 2 hours. Then, in order to produce the samples, Nano-clay particles at three levels (0%, 2% and 4%) were mixed with wood fibers, polypropylene polymer and the compatibilizer. Finally, the samples with thickness of 2mm and dimensions of 15×15cm were made by using hot press. For more precise investigation, the morphology of wood plastic composites was studied by using X-rays diffraction and electronic microscope images. Thermal properties of the composites were evaluated through thermal and differential analyses. The results of the thermal tests demonstrated that the addition of oxidized polypropylene and Nano-clay particles significantly improve the thermal properties of wood plastic composites. Furthermore, increment of Nano-clay particles content additionally improves thermal stability of the composites and also reduces the released heat amount during the thermal degradation. In addition, TEM images showed that the dispersion of Nano-clay particles in the composite has an intercalation structure. This subject also verified by the X-rays diffraction and it is an evidence of better thermal stability of the achieved wood plastic composites.

The aim of this research is investigating the thermal properties of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) in the form of flat panels. The study has included many properties such as: thermal conductivity, thermal stability, thermal expansion and melting point. The WPCs have made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) incorporated with wood flour taken from pine trees. The studied concentrations of wood flour in the composites are (10, 20 or 30 %). The work was performed experimentally by manufacturing the specimens and measuring the thermal properties. The results show that the addition of 10% wood flour to the composite, leads to a reduction in the thermal conductivity of 4-10%, a reduction in thermal expansion of 8-12%, and an increase in the melting point of (2-3°C) for both HDPE and PP wood composites. It was found that wood could be used with plastics that have low melting points, such as: HDPE, LDPE, PP, PVDF and PA, to ensure high thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]