Mechanical properties of poly(vinyl chloride)/wood flour/glass fiber hybrid composites

Short glass fibers were added to poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/wood flour composites as reinforcement agents. Unnotched and notched impact strength of PVC/wood flour/glass fiber hybrid composites could be increased significantly without losing flexural properties by adding type L glass fibers and over 40% of PVC. There was no such improvement when using type S glass fiber. The impact strength of hybrid composites increased along with the increment of the type L glass fiber content at a 50% PVC content. At high PVC contents, impact fracture surfaces were characterized by wood particle, glass fiber breakage and pullout, whereas interfacial debonding was the dominant fracture mode at higher filler concentrations. The significant improvement in impact strength of hybrid composites was attributed to the formation of the three-dimensional network glass fiber architecture between type L glass fibers and wood flour.