Manufacturing Biocomposites Using Black Pine Bark and Oak Bark

Bark as a biowaste has a huge availability throughout the world and has had limited use in industrial applications. Black pine bark and oak bark were considered in this work. The aim was to manufacture a new biocomposite with different combination of black pine bark, oak bark, polypropylene, polyethylene, and a coupling agent, and to determine some physical and mechanical properties of the manufactured biocomposites. Density, thickness swelling, water absorption, tension strength, modulus of rapture and modulus of elasticity in bending and tension of the biocomposites were determined. According to the results, thickness swelling and water absorption properties were improved up to 80% when compared with wood-plastic composites (WPC) produced with wood flour. Although the new biocomposites displayed lower mechanical performance in comparison of biocomposites made with wood flour, the observed results were satisfactory. Based on the results of this study, black pine bark and oak bark can be used as filler materials in WPCs production. Hereby, these bark materials can be the raw material for value-added products. Bark use in biocomposite production also can contribute to reduced requirements of wood material and petroleum products.