Effect of filler particle size on of pine dust-filled recycled HDPE composites

This research investigated the incorporation of pine dust; a residual material from the furniture industry, into recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to form a wood plastic composite (WPc) and analyzed how this integration affects the structure, mechanical properties, and water absorption of the resulting WPc. Here, after necessary required processing, different samples of different wt% (0wt%, 5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt%, 20wt%, 25wt%, and 30wt%) and various sizes (less than 250 μm, 250-500 μm, and 500-1000 μm) of pine dust were mixed into recycled HDPE and fed into a single extrude extruder at 210 0C. The morphologies of the all-prepared samples were taken via stereoscopy microscopy. The tensile test, impact test, and water absorption quality of all WPc samples were tested. The test results showed that the ultimate load and strength were maximum at 15wt%, 20wt%, and 10wt% of 500-1000 μm, 250-500 μm, and less than 250 μm particle size mixed WPc, respectively. The impact test showed the impact resistance was maximum at 15wt% mixed pine dust WPc in all particle sizes. Similarly, water absorption was found to be increased with the increment of wt% of pine dust of all particle sizes in recycled HDPE.