Influence of Humidity Over the Properties of Wood Fiber-based Biocomposites
2022 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesisAlternative title
Fuktighetens Inverkan på Egenskaperna hos Träfiberbaserade Biokompositer (Swedish)
Abstract [en]
The project aims to develop a methodology to study the variation in properties of wood polymer composites (WPC’s) with/without surface treatment at different humidity conditions. The project aims to investigate the behavior of biocomposites at 50%, 80%and 100% relative humidity (RH). Also to clarify if the hydrophilization effect helps to preserve the structural integrity of the materials for longer periods at these conditions. The comparison between biocomposites comprising polypropylene (PP) with both untreated wood fibers (WF) or FibraQ (hydrophobic surface-treated wood fibers from Biofiber Tech) was made. The focus was on the mechanical properties, water absorption, macro- and microstructures. The results show that PP comprising FibraQ exhibits lower moisture uptake than the PP comprising untreated WF at high relative humidity conditions. The mechanical properties did not seem significantly affected by the surface treatment at high relative humidity conditions. It is also concluded that since the study only ran for four weeks, there was not enough time to fully understand the influence of moisture uptake over the materials’ properties.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022.
Series
TRITA-CBH-GRU ; 2022:223
Keywords [en]
Wood Polymer Composite, WPC, Relative Humidity, RH, Tensile Testing, Polypropene, FibraQ, Wood Fiber, Surface Treatment, Mechanical Properties
National Category
Materials Chemistry Polymer Technologies Composite Science and Engineering Manufacturing, Surface and Joining Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-314947OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-314947DiVA, id: diva2:1677067
Subject / course
Chemical Science and Engineering
Educational program
Master of Science in Engineering - Engineering Chemistry
Supervisors
Examiners
2022-12-272022-06-27