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3 2
(1)
where A is the area of the micrograph in cm
2
.
Mechanical Properties
Flexural modulus was measured on a model 5565 (Instron, USA) universal
tester in a three-point bending geometry (ASTM D790) using a 50 N load cell.
Five samples having cross-sections of about 14 x 5 mm
2
were tested. The
span (distance between supports) was set at 100 mm to limit internal shear
in the samples and the travel speed was set at 10 mm/min.
Youngs modulus, tensile strength and elongation at break were determined
using a model 5565 (Instron, USA) universal tester with a 500 N load cell.
205 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Foams and Wood Composite Foams Produced by Rotomolding
Type V dog bone samples were cut from the molded parts according to ASTM
D638. The tests were performed at room temperature at a deformation rate
of 10 mm/min. A minimum of ve samples was used to get an average and
standard deviation.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 4 present typical morphologies for the foams and composites foams
produced. Even for the neat polymer (0, 0), some porosity can be observed
Figure 4. Typical morphologies of the rotomolded parts. The numbers in parenthesis
represent (CBA content, wood our content) in wt.%
206 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Alexandre Raymond and Denis Rodrigue
as rotomolded parts are usually slightly undercooked to limit polymer (and
wood here) degradation. Based on the density results of Figure 5, porosity is
estimated at 1% (0.925 vs. 0.938 g/cm
3
) which can modify the nal mechanical
properties of the parts (as discussed later). Then, it is clear that increasing
blowing agent content increased the number of bubble (cell density), thus
decreasing density (Figure 4) as more gas is generated and trapped inside the
molten polymer matrix. In our case, an optimum CBA content was obtained
around 0.5% as higher values did not decreased density further. Actually,
density was higher at 0.6% CBA as possible gas loss and cell collapse (broken
cell walls) can be seen in sample (0.6, 0) in Figure 4. Nevertheless, a wide
range of part density (0.449-0.722 g/cm
3
) was achieved (Figure 4) with good
and uniform cell structure, especially for CBA content between 0.3 and 0.6%.
To analyze further the foam morphology, Table 1 presents the results obtained
for average cell diameter and cell density. It is clear again that an optimum is
Figure 5. Density of the rotomolded foams (top) and composite foams (bottom)
207 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Foams and Wood Composite Foams Produced by Rotomolding
obtained here, but closer to 0.3% CBA where minimum cell size and maximum
cell density are obtained simultaneously.
Table 1. Morphological parameters of the foams
produced
CBA content
(%wt.)
D
(mm)
N
f
(10
3
cells/cm
3
)
0.1 471 155 2.66
0.2 445 126 9.54
0.3 401 134 16.4
0.4 458 143 12.6
0.5 482 150 11.0
0.6 513 127 10.0
For the composite foams, the morphology does not seem to be as homogeneous
as the neat foams. In this case, cell size distribution is very large due to the
presence of wood particles which are known to act as nucleating agents [12]
and also limit gas diffusion [13], thus creating possible gas pockets in the
polymer melts. Also, the morphology of composite foams is always difcult
to quantify as most of the big voids seen in the micrographs are coming from
bre pull-out. Nevertheless, based on the results of Figure 5, density did
not changed substantially with wood content up to 15% since the blowing
agent content was constant, and increased slightly at 20% wood as wood
density (1.480 g/cm
3
) is higher than LLDPE (0.938 g/cm
3
). Again, this will
affect mechanical properties as discussed next.
For the exural modulus, Figure 6 shows that decreasing foam density led to
substantial decrease: up to 83% lower at 0.6% CBA. This is expected as less
material is available to sustain the stresses when density decreases [14-15]. On
the other hand, keeping the density almost constant (constant CBA content),
adding wood particles led to substantial increase in exural modulus. In our
case, an increase of 62% (from 408 to 655 MPa) was obtained by adding
20%wt. of maple our. This results clearly shows that composites foam can
be made by rotomolding and can have similar exural modulus as the neat
polymer (655 vs. 680 MPa), but at lower density (0.884 vs. 0.925 g/cm
3
).
Finally, Figures 7-9 present the tensile properties of the foams and composite
foams in terms of modulus (Figure 7), strength (Figure 8) and elongation at
break (Figure 9). As for exural modulus results, tensile modulus is decreasing
with increasing CBA content. In this case, the decrease is 86% (from 184 to
26 MPa) which is higher than the 62% in exion. On the other hand, adding
wood particles led again to a slight modulus increase (24%) compared to the
208 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Alexandre Raymond and Denis Rodrigue
Figure 6. Flexural modulus of the rotomolded foams (top) and composite foams (bottom)
Figure 7. Tensile modulus of the rotomolded foams (top) and composite foams (bottom)
209 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Foams and Wood Composite Foams Produced by Rotomolding
foam without wood our. This can be related to possible orthotropic particle
orientation inside the sample due to the biaxial rotation of the molding in
processing. Small variation in modulus trend can be related to inhomogeneities
in the composite foam morphology as presented in Figure 4. This would need
more work to improve processing and get optimized results.
For tensile strength, Figure 8 shows that the value decreases with increasing
CBA content. Nevertheless, the values for the composite foams are lower than
for the neat foam, but almost constant indicating that good contact occurs at
the wood-polymer interface. Actually, there was no clear evidence that bad
contact (voids, cracks, gas cells) occurred in our samples as presented in
Figure 10, even if rotomolding is a low pressure process. Nevertheless, good
contact (physical) does not mean good adhesion (chemical). This aspect will
also need more work as surface treatment of the wood particles can be made
before dry-blending and rotomolding. This aspect is currently being studied.
Finally, Figure 9 presents the results for the elongation at break. Again, the values
are decreasing with increasing CBA content as most polymer foams become
Figure 8. Tensile strength of the rotomolded foams (top) and composite foams (bottom)
210 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Alexandre Raymond and Denis Rodrigue
more brittle than their polymer matrix counterpart [16-17]. For the composite
foams, elongation at break is decreasing even more with increasing wood
content as the particles have lower elasticity compared to the polymer matrix.
CONCLUSIONS
In this work, foams and composites foams were produced via rotomolding.
In particular, the chemical blowing agent concentration range studied was
0-0.6%wt., while the maple our content was varied between 0 and 20%wt.
From the results obtained, several conclusions can be obtained:
Rotomolded parts can be produced by the simple dry-blending technique
since all the raw materials are in a powder form. But careful control of the
particle size distribution must be made to limit possible segregation related
to material handling and biaxial rotation of the mold.
Figure 9. Tensile elongation at break of the rotomolded foams (top) and composite
foams (bottom)
211 Cellular Polymers, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2013
Foams and Wood Composite Foams Produced by Rotomolding
Wood-polymer composites can be produced without the necessity of
wood drying before processing. Based on dynamic drying curves and SEM
micrographs of the wood-polymer interface in the nal parts, no clear voids
or gas cells were observed indicating good physical contact between both
phases.
The optimum blowing agent content for the processing conditions selected
should be around 0.4%. This value represents a compromise between 0.5%
giving the lowest density (0.449 g/cm
3
) and 0.3% giving the most uniform
cell structure (lowest cell size of 401 microns and highest cell density of
16.4x10
3
cells/cm
3
). For the composite foams, 20%wt. wood our gave the
highest mechanical properties (modulus) in tension and exion.
Although the wood composites have good aesthetic properties (natural look),
more work needs to be done in order to improve the homogeneity of the
molded parts, to increase the stress transfer at the wood-polymer interface
and to increase even more wood content for enhanced material properties.
These investigations are currently under way and the results will be reported
in a future communication.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support from the National Science and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (NSERC) was appreciated. Technical support from the
Research Centre on Advanced Materials (CERMA) was also highly useful.
LLDPE samples from ExxonMobil Chemical Canada (Ron Cooke) are highly
appreciated. Finally, WES industries inc. is highly thanked for machine time
allowing to perform the experimental work related to sample preparation (dry
blending) and rotomolding samples. Thanks also to Q. Hatte for the humidity
measurements and Y. Giroux for the density measurements.
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