Accelerated aging of pine wood waste/recycled LDPE composite

The production of composites from recycled thermoplastic polymers and natural fibers has been an interesting alternative to generate polymeric materials of low cost, with sufficient properties for application and environmentally adequate. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the accelerated photochemical aging on properties of a composite produced from recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with pine wood waste (PWW) in the presence of coupling agent. The oxidation, performance of mechanical properties and surface changes of the LDPE and LDPE/PWW composite were monitored at different times of aging. It was observed that LDPE/PWW composite presented a higher resistance to the accelerated photochemical aging than unfilled LDPE, mainly due to the better performance of the mechanical properties of elongation at break and tensile strength, showing that the presence of natural fibers from PWW lead to the stabilization of the polymeric matrix of LDPE.