Study of the Physical Properties of Recycled High Density Polyethylene Composite and Wood Flour

This research was conducted aiming at studying the physical properties of recycled high density polyethylene composite and wood flour. For this purpose, the recycled polyethylene was used at three levels of 67, 72 and 77 percent and the wood flour was used at three levels of 20, 25 and 30 percent as filler. Furthermore, the grafted maleic anhydride polyethylene (PE-g-MA) of Arya Polymer Company at the fixed level of 3 percent was also utilized. The materials were mixed in a internal mixer and using a hot press, the test samples were built. The physical properties of the composite including the water uptake and thicknesses swelling in accordance with the ASTM standard instruction were measured. The results showed that with a 10 percent increase of wood flour, the water uptake of 2 and 24 hours will increase by 15.5 and 16.4 percent respectively. Also with the 10 percent increase of wood flour, the thickness swelling of 2 and 24 hours will increase by 81 and 52 percent respectively.

Composite, Recycled High Density Polyethylene, Water Uptake (Absorption), Thickness Swelling