Wood plastic composites with improved electrical and thermal conductivity

Rathish Rajan, Jonne Näkki, Rama Layek, Egidija Rainosalo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) are used to produce wood plastic composites (WPC) with improved electrical and thermal conductivity. The polypropylene/wood/GNP hybrid composites are produced by melt compounding followed by hot pressing. The effect of GNP loadings (5, 10 and 15 wt%) on electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, tensile properties, and thermal degradation of hybrid WPC containing 20 wt% of wood flour is studied. The effect of fast and slow cooling rates during hot pressing on the surface resistivity of hybrid WPC is evaluated. Scanning electron microscopy of the tensile fracture surface and polished cross-sections of hybrid WPC is analysed. The hybrid WPC containing 20 wt% wood flour and 15 wt% of GNP (PP-W20-G15) is measured to show surface resistivity of 2.05E + 06 Ω/sq and thermal conductivity of 0.61 W/m.K. There is a significant increase in electrical and thermal conductivity of PP-W20-G15 when compared to WPC containing 20 wt% of wood flour (PP-W20). The wood flour helps with the distribution of GNP in PP-W20-G15 by which the surface resistivity is improved when compared to PP filled with 15 wt% GNP. It was found that the surface resistivity of PP-W20-G15 was dependent on the cooling rate used during the hot pressing. There is a considerable decrease in tensile strength and an increase in the tensile modulus of hybrid WPCs compared to PP-W20 and neat polypropylene.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)719-739
Number of pages21
JournalWOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Volume55
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This study has received funding from EU Interreg IV North program 2014—2020 by The county Administrative Board of Norrbotten, Sweden and Regional Council of Lapland, Finland, for project SMART-WPC. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received for the project. Authors are thankful to Ms. Zainab Al-Maqdasi, Luleå University of Technology for fracture surface SEM images and Mr. Juha Junkala, Centria UAS for assistance in laboratory.

Publication forum classification

  • Publication forum level 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Forestry
  • General Materials Science
  • Plant Science
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Wood plastic composites with improved electrical and thermal conductivity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this