Abstract
E-chopped strand glass fibers with different initial fiber lengths and contents are introduced into wood-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites having the wood content of 50 parts per hundred (phr). The initial fiber lengths and glass fiber contents varied from 3, 6, and 12 mm, and 10, 20, and 30 phr, respectively, and the mechanical and morphological properties of the wood/PVC composites are then monitored. The results suggest that the tensile and flexural moduli and strengths of the wood/PVC composites increase with increasing glass fiber contents. The tensile and flexural moduli and strengths of the WPVC composites at 10—20 phr glass fiber loadings are more dependent on carbonyl (C=O) content on the fiber surface, but those at 30 phr glass fiber loadings are influenced by the average final length of glass fibers. The impact strength of the wood/PVC composites progressively increase with increasing glass fiber content. The elongation at break is found to slightly decrease with increasing glass fiber content due to increases in fiber-end effects and stress concentrations in the wood/PVC composites. The effect of initial fiber length on the degree of composite shrinkage is very small, the values ranging from 0.3 to 1.3%.