Extruded Bagasse Fiber Plastic Composites: - Creep Performance Wu, Q. 1, Y. Xu 1, Y. Lei 1, C. M. Clemons 2 1 School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 2 Performance Engineered Composites, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive Madison, WI 53705-2398
Background Use of natural fibers as reinforcers and fillers for polymer composites is commonplace Baggase is one of the major fiber resources 4.5 million tons dry fiber/year in US and 85% burnt for energy Time-dependent properties a major challenge
Objectives To develop production technology for manufacturing bagasse polymer composites through profile extrusion. To compare basic strength and biological resistance properties of manufactured composites with commercial wood-plastic composites. To measure/predict creep performance using time-temperature superposition.
Raw Material Plastics: Bagasse fiber: Coupling agent: Heat stabilizer: Lubricant: Virgin HDPE & recycled HDPE Virgin PVC & recycled PVC Hammermilled bagasse MAPE and SEBS MARK 1900 (for PVC) TPW-012 Formulations HDPE-bagasse: HDPE/Fiber/MAPE/lubricant = 42%/50%/2%/6% PVC-bagasse: PVC/Fiber/SEBS/lubricant/heat stabilizer = 41.2%/50%/2%/6%/0.8%
Compounding Plastic, bagasse fiber, and additives were fed separately to a single upstream port of a 27-mm twin-screw extruder. The blend was extruded through a strand die, cooled with a water bath, and then pelletized. HDPE: 182 (hopper) -182-177-177-154- 154-154-146ºC (die) at 200 rpm PVC: 182 (hopper)-182-177-177-177-177-177-177ºc (die) at 80 rpm. Profile Extrusion Profile extrusion was done with a different screw design using the pellets to produce a 65 (wide) x 6.5-mm (thick) composites. 182(hopper)-182-199-199-143- 143-149-149-160 (Die) at 150 rpm for HDPE 182 (hopper)-182-199-199-143-143-149-149-160 (Die) at 80 rpm for virgin PVC and 40 rpm for recycled PVC.
Profile Extrusion
Product Testing Density profile through sample thickness Water absorption and swelling (VPS process) Bending modulus and strength (ASTM D790-03) Impact strength (ASTM D256-02) Composite morphology (SEM) Termites (AWPA E1) Decay (AWPA E10) Creep (TTS)
Table 1. Summary of physical and mechanical properties of the profile extruded composites. Product Type 1 Density (kg/m 3 ) Water Absorption 2 (%) Thickness Swelling 2 (%) Bending Strength (MPa) Bending Modulus (GPa) Impact Strength (kj/m 2 ) B-V-HDPE 994 1.04 (0.09) C 0.50 (0.27) B 20.17 (2.33) C 1.68 (0.11) B 2.35 (0.19) B B-R-HDPE 1130 0.40 (0.08) D 0.87 (0.34) B 28.31 (0.92) AB 1.28 (0.15) C 2.87 (0.11) A B-V-PVC 1244 3.67 (0.45) A 3.30 (1.34) A 32.49 (0.35) A 2.98 (0.18) A 1.58 (0.09) D B-R-PVC 1322 1.33 (0.06) C 3.04 (1.10) A 24.95 (1.45) B 2.77 (0.13) A 1.81 (0.11) C W-V-HDPE 1050 1.91 (0.14) B 1.15 (0.66) B 20.15 (3.45) C 1.81 (0.43) B 2.41 (0.22) B 1 B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; and W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial docking material). 2 Water absorption cycle: 30 minutes vacuum at 30 inch Hg -> 3-hour pressuring at 100 PSI.
4.0 3.6 3.2 Flextual M OE Impact Strength MOE (GPa) and IS (kj/m2) 2.8 2.4 2.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4 0.0 1: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 2: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 3: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 4: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 5: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material). 1 2 3 4 5 Product Type
40 35 Bending Strength (MPa) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Product Type 1: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 2: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 3: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 4: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 5: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material).
4 Water Absorption (%) 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 1: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 2: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 3: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 4: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 5: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material). Product Type
4 Thicness Swelling (%) 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 1: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 2: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 3: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 4: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 5: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material). Product Type
Morphology PVC HDPE
Table 2. Summary of Termite Test. Weight Average Sample Type 1 Mortality (%) Loss (%) Rating (0-10) W-Control W-V-HDPE B-V-PVC B-R-PVC B-V-HDPE B-R-HDPE 18.65% (29.05%) A 12.40% (11.82%) A 78.15% (21.02%) B 67.35% (23.67%) B 75.50% (25.13%) B 70.45% (26.87%) B 37.47% (14.1%) B 7.93% (0.33%) A 0.71% (0.14%) A 0.60% (0.05%) A 2.20% (0.21%) A 1.44% (0.04%) A 2.00 (1.69) A 7.32 (0.23) B 9.68 (0.11) D 9.84 (0.09) D 8.60 (0.20) C 9.00 (0.00) CD 1 W-Control: Solid wood control; B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; and W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial docking material).
Mortality and Weight Loss 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 19% Mortality Weight Loss 37% 12% 8% 78% 67% 1% 1% 76% 70% 2% 1% 1 2 3 4 5 6 Product Type 1: W-Control: Solid wood control 2: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 3: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 4: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 5: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 6: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material).
Rating (0-10) 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 9.7 9.8 8.6 9.0 7.3 2.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Product Type 1: W-Control: Solid wood control 2: B-V-HDPE: bagasse virgin HDPE; 3: B-R-HDPE: bagasse recycled HDPE; 4: B-V-PVC: bagasse virgin PVC; 5: B-R-PVC: bagasse recycled PVC; 6: W-V-HDPE: wood virgin HDPE (commercial decking material).
Time-Temperature Superposition Temperature effects are described by altering the time scale of the viscoelastic response: t * = a T t ( T) a T is the horizontal (or time) shift factor (temperature dependent)
Creep Properties - TTS E 1 1 log a T = R ( T T 0 ) a T is the horizontal (or time) shift factor R is the universal gas constant E is activation energy T 0 is the reference temperature T is the temperature at which a T is desired
Creep Test DMA Q 800 in dual cantilever mode Stress level 2 MPa Creep temperature range 35 C to the maximum degradation temperature with 5 C increment Creep time 17 minutes for TTS data Three-day creep with recovery for verification
E F c K = K F s c 3 L 24 I [1 + 12 5 = 0.7616 0.02713 = 24 E I 3 12 L [1 + (1 + ν )( 5 t L (1 + ν )( ) L t 2 ] t L ) 2 ] L + 0.1083ln( ) t σ ε x x = = 3 P L 2 w t 3 δ t Fc 2 12 L [1 + (1 + ν )( 5 t L ) 2 ] P = 1/2 applied force; δ= amplitude of deformation L = sample length (one side) t = sample thickness; w = sample width Fc = clamping correction factor; ν=poison s ratio
Stress-Strain Relationship 12 10 35 C Stress (MPa) 8 6 4 2 0 RPVC-BC VPVC-BC RHDPE-BC VHDPE-BC C-PEWC C-PPWC 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 Strain (%)
Stress-Strain Relationship 12 10 65 C Stress (MPa) 8 6 4 2 0 RPVC-BC VPVC-BC RHDPE-BC VHDPE-BC C-PEWC C-PPWC 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 Strain (%)
Typical Creep Curves VHDPE-BC 0.070 Creep strain (%) 0.060 0.050 0.040 0.030 0.020 0.010 35 C 45 C 55 C 65 C 75 C 85 C 95 C 0.000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Time (s)
Log(strain)-Log(time) Plots VPVC-BC 0.00 Log Strain (%) -0.50-1.00-1.50-2.00-2.50 35 C 45 C 55 C 65 C 75 C -3.00-3.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 Log Time (s)
Log(strain)-Log(time) Plots 0.00 VHDPE-BC -0.50-1.00 35 C 45 C 55 C 65 C 75 C 85 C 95 C Log Strain (%) -1.50-2.00-2.50-3.00-3.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 Log Time (s)
Master Curves at 35 o C -1 Log Strain (%) -1.5-2 -2.5 RHDPE-BC VHDPE-BC CHDPE-WC CPP-WC RPVC VPVC -3-3.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Log Time (s)
TTS - shifting factor Log(a T ) vs f(1/t) 0-1 -2-3 -4 Log (at) -5-6 -7-8 -9 RPVC-BC VPVC-BC RHDPE-BC VHDPE-BC -10-11 155 C 115 C 105 C CHDPE-WC CPP-WC -12-0.0010-0.0008-0.0006-0.0004-0.0002 0.0000 (1/T-1/T o ) (1/ o K)
TTS - shifting factor Log(a T ) vs f(1/t) 0-1 -2 75 C Log (at) -3-4 -5-6 -7 RPVC-BC VPVC-BC RHDPE-BC VHDPE-BC CHDPE-WC CPP-WC -8-0.0004-0.0003-0.0002-0.0001 0.0000 (1/T-1/T o ) (1/ o K)
Activation Energy (up to 75 o C) Composites CHDPE VHDPE RHDPE CPP RPVC VPVC Regression Analysis Log(a T )~f(1/t) r 2 Y = 11089 X + 0.0598 0.998 Y = 10486 X - 0.2171 0.985 Y = 9851.3 X - 0.2394 0.982 Y = 8240.4 X - 0.2340 0.972 Y = 17291 X - 0.1968 0.979 Y = 15792 X + 0.1178 0.983 E act (KJ/mol) 92.199 87.185 81.908 68.515 143.765 131.302
Creep Data (72-hour creep) Creep Strain (mm/mm) 0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 VHDPE RHDPE CHDPE CPP VPVC RPVC 0.000 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Creep time (s)
Comparison with TTS data 0.0020 RPVC Creep Strain (mm/mm) 0.0016 0.0012 0.0008 0.0004 Prediction Real creep 0.0000 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Creep time (s)
Comparison with TTS data VPVC 0.0020 0.0016 Creep Strain (mm/mm) 0.0012 0.0008 0.0004 0.0000 Prediction Real creep 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Creep time (s)
Comparison with TTS data 0.010 VHDPE Creep Strain (mm/mm) 0.009 0.008 0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.000 Prediction Real creep 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Creep time (s)
Summary Bagasse fiber can be successfully used to make profile extruded products with both virgin and recycled plastics including HDPE and PVC. Creep varied with plastic matrix type. HDPE composite creep more compared with PVC and PP products. TTS with H-shift worked well for certain composites, but V-shift is necessary for good correlation with experimental data.