Article: Cell morphology and property relationships of microcellular foamed PVC/wood-fiber composites.

INTRODUCTION

Cellulose materials, such as wood-fibers, combined with synthetic polymers are known as plastic/wood-fiber composites. The main reason for combining wood-fibers with plastic is to merge the desirable properties of each component, thereby creating a new material with extended utility (1-3). Although these composites are known to be superior to the neat polymers in terms of material cost and stiffness, their strength performance is generally lower. The decreased strength is likely a result of the natural incompatibility of phases during the mixing of the hydrophilic wood-fiber with the hydrophobic polymeric matrix (3-9). A phase incompatibility will ...

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