mechanical properties of wood flour-polylactic acid composite

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of nucleating agent on the injection molding and mechanical properties of wood flour-polylactic acid composite (WPC). The results indicated that increasing the proportion of wood content in WPC will decrease its melt flow index, and affect the process of injection molding. The process of injection molding would be difficult when the wood content proportion of WPC is over 20% under no addition of any nucleating agents. After adding 5% of talc as the nucleating agent, the melt flow index of WPC with 20% wood content could be improved to match general plastic injection processing standards; the suitable proportion of nucleating agent in WPC is 5%. The tensile strength and bending strength of WPC will be increased while increasing the proportion of nucleating agent. Introducing nucleating agents can improve the crystallization process and increase the crystallinity of WPC, then further improve the mechanical properties and heat resistance of WPC.