Creep behaviour of wood flour/poly(vinyl chloride) composites

The experimental creep data were focused on wood-flour (WF) /poly vinyl chloride (PVC) composites with the variations in additive concentrations of wood flour, silane coupling agent, organomodified montmorillonite (OMMT) and nano-cacium carbonate (nano-CaCO3). Their effects were analyzed using the Four-element Burger Model incorporating microscopic mechanisms. Total creep strain was low with increasing WF while elastic strain was high and plastic flow strain was low in modeling. Modification of WF with silane was beneficial to creep resistance, so did adding low ratio of OMMT (1.5 wt%) and nano-CaCO3 in composites. Thus, it was effective in reducing creep either by stiffening the PVC matrix using rigid nano-particles or by improving their adhesion with resin. However, superfluous quantity of any additament did not benefit the improvement owing to either earlier destruction of their agglomerates or stress-concentrated cracks in the over-incrassated interface.