| The main concern in recycling is market opportunities for the reclaimed materials. The use of recycled plastic as a composite in some structural materials could be an attractive outlet. Lately, the use of the natural fiber reinforced thermoplastics has been rising. This study investigated composites of aspen wood fiber reinforced high density polyethylene from used household bottles. The effects of various fiber contents on the mechanical properties of the composites, including tensile properties, impact strength, and water absorption, were evaluated.; It was found that an increase of wood fiber content did not improve the tensile properties of the composites. With an increase in the fiber concentration, the tensile strength, yield strength and % elongation decreased, while the modulus and impact strength slightly increased. The fiber fraction in the composites had a very large effect on water absorption. The more the fiber content, the higher was the gain in weight. At the end, most properties were worse in the recycled HDPE matrix composite than in the virgin HDPE matrix composite. |
