Properties of wood plastic composite panels made from waste sanding dusts and nanoclay

This article presents the application of waste sanding dusts in order to evaluate its suitability as reinforcement for thermoplastics as an alternative to wood fibers. The effects of sanding dust loading and nanoclay content on the physical and mechanical properties were also studied. Overall trend showed that with addition of sanding dusts, tensile and flexural properties of the composites were significantly decreased, due to the reduction of interface bond between the fiber and matrix. It was found that flexural, tensile and withdrawal strength of fasteners were moderately enhanced by the addition of 2 wt% nanoclay in the matrix. However, with increase in the nanoclay content (4 and 6 wt%), the flexural and tensile properties decreased significantly. The results also showed that the withdrawal strengths of screws are much higher than those of nails. At certain amount of sanding dust, with increasing nanoclay loading the withdrawal strengths of fasteners (screws and nails) were considerably decreased. The thickness swelling and water absorption of the composites dramatically decreased with the increase in nanoclay loading. Except thickness swelling, both variable parameters (sanding dust and nanoclay contents) showed significant influence on physico-mechanical properties.