High-performance and environmentally friendly acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/wood composite for versatile applications in furniture and construction

Untreated ubiquitous plastics have caused great damage to the ecosystem of our world. In order to solve this problem, the untreated plastic was transformed into an environmentally friendly polymer/wood composite. However, due to the poor interfacial compatibility, their mechanical strength, water resistance, and heat resistance are very poor. Therefore, an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/poplar composite with excellent properties was prepared by a novel one-step method. The resulting poplar ABS composite shows better tensile strength (350.06 MPa) and flexural strength (204.89 MPa) than poplar (51.97 MPa, 95.84 MPa) and plywood (18.84 MPa, 37.94 MPa). It was found that the poplar ABS composite shows lower water absorption (10.14%) and greater thermal stability than that of poplar. In addition, the thermal conductivity (0.48 W/m.K) of poplar ABS composite is lower than that of poplar and plywood, suggesting its good thermal insulation performance. Overall, the preparation of poplar-ABS composite demonstrates great promise to replace commercial plastics to synthesize wood plastic composite with potential versatile applications in furniture and construction.

Automated summary

To address the environmental damage caused by untreated plastics, an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/poplar composite with excellent properties was prepared by a novel one-step method. The composite exhibited improved tensile strength, flexural strength, water resistance, and thermal stability compared to poplar and plywood. This poplar-ABS composite shows great promise for versatile applications in furniture and construction, offering the potential to replace commercial plastics.